The world’s largest subsea cable, 45,000 kilometre (km) long undersea cable will berth in Lagos any time this month, it was gathered at the weekend. The new deep-sea cable is expected to land in Lagos and Kwa Ibo, a river town in Nigeria’s southeast, according to sources.
The 45,000 km-long 2Africa cable Initiated by Meta (formerly Facebook) is the longest cable in the world that will connect 33 countries on three continents – Africa, Europe and Asia – representing some three billion people, when it is fully operational this year.
Speaking in Lagos at the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the American Corner in Lekki last month, United States’ Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, indicated that the subsea cable would land in the country soon. He said the U.S. government would continue to support the Federal Government’s march towards a digital economy.
He said: “The world’s largest subsea cable is on its way. It will reach Lagos next (this) month. And as I’ve looked at the numbers, more than a quarter of American venture capital coming to Africa is coming to Nigeria.”
In Nigeria, there are six international submarine cables with over 40 Tbps of capacity, including Google’s Equiano, SAT3 cable, MainOne cable, Glo1 cable, ACE cable and WACS cable, landed by Natcom, MainOne, Glo 1, Dolphin Telecom and MTN.
There is also a submarine cable connecting Kribi in Cameroon to Lagos in Nigeria, the Nigeria-Cameroun Submarine Cable System (NCSCS). It is owned by Cameroon Telecommunications (CAMTEL), in a partnership with MainOne to land the NCSCS cable at MainOne’s Lagos Cable Landing Station. When it finally lands in the country, it has the specificity of being the longest in the world. At 45,000 km, more than the circumference of the Earth, the 2Africa submarine cable aims to transform the digital ecosystem in Africa, Asia, and Europe and revolutionise connectivity on the continent.
The 2Africa consortium is initiated by Meta and involves several different members including Vodafone, Orange, ASN, and China Mobile.
According to reports, the first discussions around the project dates back to 2018 and the contract was signed in March 2020. Since January 2022, installation has been underway with Djibouti, Genoa (Italy), Barcelona (Spain), and now Marseille (France). Forty-five landing stations are planned along the route.
When it is fully inaugurated this year, 33 countries will be connected, representing 3 billion people, 36per cent of the world’s population.
Speaking on the project, 2Africa Cable Program Manager for Meta, Cynthia Perret, explained: “This is the longest cable project ever undertaken with a capacity of 180 terabits/s which is more than has ever been installed around Africa. This cable aims to revolutionize access to the digital world for all African countries. This project will increase the capacity, quality, and reliability of international digital bandwidth for African countries.
We are also on an open cable partnership system. The goal is not to be in closed markets, but we must set up a competition between ISPs in different countries, to lower the price of bandwidth and make access to international data easier and cheaper for the user, to continue to develop the digital ecosystem.”
