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Our story

The vision for
2Africa

Introducing 2Africa

Our story

How It Started

In 2018, Meta sought to accelerate global connectivity particularly in underserved areas. Over the next couple of years, they partnered with with like-minded multi-national organizations namely, Bayobab, center3, CMI, Orange, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone Group, and WIOCC 2020, to broaden the scope of the project and thus birthed 2Africa. 

A few figures

180 terabits per second (Tbps) of trunk capacity for high-bandwidth, low-latency access

  • 180 Tbps is enough to stream over 36 million HD movies simultaneously, assuming 5 megabits per second a stream.

  • For an individual, this means the potential to download 15,000 full-length Nollywood films (each about 1.5 GB) per second, or enable students to access a remote university’s full library in a minute.

  • For a city like Lagos, it means millions of people can video call, stream, and work online at the same time – without experiencing slowdowns or congestion.

Expected to boost Africa's GDP by $36.9 billion within the first two to three years of operation

Our cable technology

2Africa took nearly six years to build, spanning 50 jurisdictions and requiring constant adaptation to dynamic regulatory landscapes. The project’s success depended on strong partnerships and close collaboration with regulators and policymakers across many countries. Their support was essential in navigating requirements, overcoming challenges, and keeping the project on track.

Building 2Africa required us to push the boundaries of subsea infrastructure. This cable is double the capacity of older systems. It incorporates undersea optical wavelength switching, enabling flexible bandwidth management and supporting evolving demands for AI, cloud, and high-bandwidth applications. We deployed advanced SDM (Spatial Division Multiplexing) technology and incorporated undersea optical wavelength switching for flexible bandwidth management. We increased cable burial depth by 50 percent and carefully routed the cable to avoid seabed hazards like hot brine pools and the Congo Canyon turbidity currents, optimizing for both capacity and reliability. Over 35 offshore vessels and extensive local operations were mobilized, with specialist equipment deployed to ensure safe and resilient installation across 50 jurisdictions.

Diving deeper

2Africa took nearly eight years to build from inception to completion in 2025, spanning 50 jurisdictions and requiring constant adaptation to dynamic regulatory landscapes. The project’s success depended on strong partnerships and close collaboration with regulators and policymakers across many countries. Their support was essential in navigating requirements, overcoming challenges, and keeping the project on track.

Building 2Africa required us to push the boundaries of subsea infrastructure. This cable is double the capacity of older systems. It incorporates undersea optical wavelength switching, enabling flexible bandwidth management and supporting evolving demands for AI, cloud, and high-bandwidth applications. We deployed advanced SDM (Spatial Division Multiplexing) technology and incorporated undersea optical wavelength switching for flexible bandwidth management. We increased cable burial depth by 50 percent and carefully routed the cable to avoid seabed hazards like hot brine pools and the Congo Canyon turbidity currents, optimizing for both capacity and reliability. Over 35 offshore vessels and extensive local operations were mobilized, with specialist equipment deployed to ensure safe and resilient installation across 50 jurisdictions.

About 2Africa

Purpose

The level of broadband traffic is growing exponentially. Consumer appetites for new applications such as cloud computing, on-demand video and social media appear limitless. The demand for new connectivity is driven by a business environment in which ultra-broadband access is essential for sustainable growth and development.


The purpose of the submarine cable project is to significantly increase the capacity, quality and availability of internet connectivity between Africa and the rest of the world. This is of particular significance for a continent that has historically been behind the global average in internet penetration.


By directly connecting numerous countries around the entire coast of Africa to Europe and the Middle East region, businesses and consumers will benefit from enhanced capacity and reliability for services such as telecommuting, HD TV broadcasting, internet services, video conferencing, advanced multimedia and mobile video applications. The project will also underpin future mobile and fixed broadband access. This will help African leaders to implement their 2030 visions and to meet many of the Sustainable Development Goals challenges related to or depending on internet connectivity.

Our cable technology

2Africa took nearly six years to build, spanning 50 jurisdictions and requiring constant adaptation to dynamic regulatory landscapes. The project’s success depended on strong partnerships and close collaboration with regulators and policymakers across many countries. Their support was essential in navigating requirements, overcoming challenges, and keeping the project on track.

Building 2Africa required us to push the boundaries of subsea infrastructure. This cable is double the capacity of older systems. It incorporates undersea optical wavelength switching, enabling flexible bandwidth management and supporting evolving demands for AI, cloud, and high-bandwidth applications. We deployed advanced SDM (Spatial Division Multiplexing) technology and incorporated undersea optical wavelength switching for flexible bandwidth management. We increased cable burial depth by 50 percent and carefully routed the cable to avoid seabed hazards like hot brine pools and the Congo Canyon turbidity currents, optimizing for both capacity and reliability. Over 35 offshore vessels and extensive local operations were mobilized, with specialist equipment deployed to ensure safe and resilient installation across 50 jurisdictions.

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Related 

Partners

2Africa was born from the close collaboration of eight international partners.

Contact us

If you have more questions about 2Africa or any suggestions, reach out to us through our simple contact form.

Press

We have compiled 2Africa imagery and logos you can use in your communications about us.

From our partners

The launch of 2Africa enables us to offer our customers seamless connection between Africa and Europe, together with our SEA-ME-WE 5 and AAE-1 subsea cable resources to further extend to Asia, which is an important milestone of our global development strategy,” said Jessica Gu, Director & Chief Technology Officer of China Mobile International. “The utmost capacity and faster transmission allows us to satisfy the needs of African nations today and in the future, reflecting our firm commitment to building a global digital life.

Jessica Gu
Director & CTO
China Mobile International

At Bayobab, we believe that

everyone deserves the benefits

of a modern connected life.

Participating in the

groundbreaking 2Africa subsea

cable project is a realisation of

our mission to enable the

continent with state-of-the-art

digital solutions. Together with

our partners, we are delivering

an initiative that speaks directly

to the transformative power of

connectivity. As a proud MTN

Group company, it is an honour

to create a legacy of a

connected thriving Africa.

Mazen Mroué

CEO, MTN Digital Infrastructure

Bayobab

We’re excited to be collaborating with our 2Africa partners on the most comprehensive subsea cable that will serve the continent. 2Africa is a major element of our ongoing investment in Africa to bring more people online to a faster internet. We’ve seen first-hand the positive impact that increased connectivity has on communities, from education to healthcare. We know that economies flourish when there is widely accessible internet for businesses. 2Africa is a key pillar supporting this tremendous internet expansion as part of Africa’s surging digital economy.

Najam Ahmad

VP, Network Infrastructure

Meta

As one of the world’s leading multi-service telecommunications operators and present in 18 countries in Africa and the Middle East, it was natural for Orange to be part of the 2Africa project. This major investment will complete our existing submarine and pan-African terrestrial infrastructures to provide access to international connectivity in a redundant fashion throughout the west coast of Africa. It will enable Orange to securely meet the demand for increased bandwidth necessary for the continued digital development of regions throughout the 2Africa system.

Alioune Ndiaye

CEO

Orange Middle East and Africa

STC is delighted to be a Partner in 2Africa. The 2Africa cable will be integrated into STC’s MENA Gateway (MG1) datacentre in Jeddah, enabling customers to access our extensive international content and extend their regional connectivity through STC terrestrial geo-mesh network that extends to all neighboring countries. This will undoubtedly play a significant role in enhancing STC's international network capabilities, whilst also positioning STC as a leading regional digital player in the MENA region. The partnership demonstrates STC’s commitment, in line with Saudi Vision 2030, to deliver meaningful digital transformation and build a digital society for all.

Mohammed A. Alabbadi

Wholesale VP

STC

Telecom Egypt’s contribution to 2Africa marks an important milestone in our endeavor to contribute to digital transformation in Africa. Egypt’s relationship with African states has and will always be one of Egypt's top priorities, it extends here to align with Egypt’s strategy to contribute in the current development in Africa. For years, we have accomplished tangible steps in revamping our international infrastructure and increasing our assets' geodiversity in order to keep pace with the rising global demand for large bandwidth and global reach. We trust that 2Africa will be a rich addition to our diversified investments in the subsea cable industry.

Adel Hamed

Managing Director and CEO
Telecom Egypt

Improving connectivity for Africa is a significant step which lays the groundwork for increased digitalisation across the continent,” said Vinod Kumar, CEO Vodafone Business. “2Africa will give local businesses and consumers a better online experience while more connectivity between Africa, Europe and the Middle East will help to build a wider, more inclusive digital society across the globe. We’re delighted to work with our partners in the project to help deliver this.

Vinod Kumar

CEO 

Vodafone Business

For over a decade WIOCC has been the hyperscale capacity provider for Africa, based upon a strategy of ongoing strategic investment in key subsea and terrestrial infrastructure. Participation in 2Africa continues this commitment to providing large capacity users with the resilient network they need to support their customers' ever-growing bandwidth requirements. Our investment both future-proofs our network capabilities and provides additional resilience to maximize uptime for our critical infrastructure.

Chris Wood

CEO 

WIOCC

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