2Africa submarine cable lands in Mozambique

Vodacom has announced that major submarine cable system 2Africa has landed in Mozambique in the city of Nacala, making it the first submarine cable to land in the north of the country.

The cable system promises greater Internet capacity and accelerated connectivity for users supporting the growing digital economy in Mozambique.

Launched in May 2020, the 2Africa submarine cable project aims to significantly increase the capacity, quality and availability of Internet connectivity between Africa and the rest of the world.

Vodacom is the designated partner for the Mozambique landing, providing infrastructure for the cable installation at existing sites in the Maputo harbor area and Nacala port.

"The landing of the 2Africa submarine cable reaffirms Vodacom's commitment to boost digital inclusion in Mozambique and the African continent by increasing access to quality Internet services and investing in network infrastructure to support this," said José Mendes, managing executive for Vodacom Business, Mozambique.

2Africa is being rolled out by a consortium backed by Meta (Facebook) and including partners China Mobile International, Bayobab (Formerly MTN GlobalConnect), Orange, Center3 (stc), Telecom Egypt, Vodafone/Vodacom and WIOCC.

"This is an ambitious challenge for which we cannot achieve results alone. Collaboration between other industry players and the public sector is key, to enable the connection of more citizens across the continent," added Mendes.

Increased Internet capacity

Through this submarine fiber optic cable infrastructure, Vodacom will provide a direct international gateway for faster and more reliable Internet services in the country.

The 2Africa project supports further growth of 4G, 5G and fixed broadband access, providing better connectivity to underserved and rural areas as well as network resilience, Vodacom said.

From this infrastructure, service providers will be able to obtain capacity on a fair and equitable basis and direct international connectivity can then be provided to data centers, enterprises and wholesale customers.

Once the fiber optic cable system is deployed, businesses and consumers will benefit from better quality, reliability and lower latency for Internet services, including teleworking, high-definition video streaming, as well as advanced multimedia and mobile video applications, Vodacom added.

Expansion around Africa

In February 2023, the cable made a landing in Mahajanga in Madagascar via a partnership between Madagascan operator Telma and global operator Vodafone.

This followed four completed landings in South Africa, the latest of which was earlier in February near Durban in KwaZulu-Natal installed by the West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC).

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

Submarine cable systems that provide international networks between continents and countries are an integral part of the connectivity value chain and increase the Internet's ability to meet the current and future demands of Africa's growing digitalization, while catalyzing economic growth, Vodacom said.

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

Alcatel Submarine Networks is responsible for the manufacture and installation of the 2Africa cable, which is scheduled for completion in 2024 via 46 landing locations in 33 countries.

The cable system is 45,000km long and with a design capacity of 180 Terabits per second. It will connect Europe (to the east via Egypt), the Middle East (via Saudi Arabia) and Africa.

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.

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*Top image is of The 2Africa landing in the city of Nacala, Mozambique. (Source: Vodacom Mozambique)

— Paula Gilbert, Editor, Connecting Africa