2Africa reaches the shores of Madagascar

What is set to become the world's largest submarine cable system, 2Africa, has made another African landing, this time in Mahajanga in Madagascar, as it works its way up Africa's East Coast.

Madagascan operator Telma and global operator Vodafone joined forces to connect Madagascar to 2Africa this week.

This new infrastructure will significantly reinforce Telma's capability to meet the fast-growing demand for online services in Madagascar, the operator said.

"2Africa's seamless connectivity will be a game-changer for numerous economic sectors by allowing access to the highest-speed Internet network. Beyond the business scope, we aim to offer every Malagasy the opportunity and means to become a citizen of the digital world," said Patrick Pisal Hamida, CEO of Telma Madagascar.

"2Africa will also be an asset to meet many of the UN Sustainable Development Goals related to Internet connectivity and a major step in the realization of the Malagasy state vision 'Initiative for the Emergence of Madagascar'," he added.

Businesses and consumers can expect improved quality, reliability and lower latency for Internet services, including telecommuting, high-definition video streaming, and advanced multimedia applications.

The 2Africa pipeline

The 45,000km subsea cable system will connect Africa, Europe and Asia. It aims to significantly increase the capacity, quality and availability of Internet connectivity between Africa and the rest of the world, with a design capacity of up to 180 Tbit/s.

Map of the planned 2Africa route and landings. (Source: 2Africa Press Kit)

2Africa was announced in May 2020 and is being rolled out by a consortium backed by Meta (Facebook) along with partners China Mobile International, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, center3 (stc), Telecom Egypt, Vodafone/Vodacom and the West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC).

The 2Africa East cable system, of which the Mahajanga branch is part, will be ready for service by the fourth quarter of 2023.

Cable's reach expands

The Madagascar landing leads on from 2Africa's four completed landings in South Africa, the latest of which was earlier in February near Durban in KwaZulu-Natal and facilitated by WIOCC.

There were also two landings in the Western Cape facilitated by MTN GlobalConnect (in Yzerfontein and Duynefontein) and another one by Vodacom in the Eastern Cape (in Gqeberha).

Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) is responsible for manufacturing and deploying the 2Africa cable, due for completion in 2024 via 46 landing locations in 33 countries.

2Africa will have 27 landings in Africa across 19 countries, including four landings in South Africa and two each in Mozambique, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia and Egypt.

2Africa will help connect the island nation of Madagascar to the world through Telma's 10,000km national optic fiber backbone and will significantly increase its capacities in Internet connectivity, the operator said.

Telma also has investments in other existing subsea cables: EASSy (Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System), LION (Lower Indian Ocean Network) and METISS (Melting Pot Indian-oceanic Submarine System).

The 2Africa project is rolling out beside another major cable, Google's Equiano which will connect South Africa to Europe along Africa's west coast. Equiano made its landing on SA shores in August 2022.

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