technology

Facebook and telecom firms to extend subsea cable to four nations

Date: August 17, 2021 Sunil Jha Sunil Jha
Facebook and telecom firms to extend subsea cable to four nations 
On Monday, Facebook, and a group of global and African telecoms firms, reportedly announced through a joint statement that they will add four additional nations to the globe's largest subsea cable project, expanding the construction project in Africa sooner than expected.



Internet access will be extended to the Comoros Islands, Seychelles, Angola, and deliver a new landing within southeast Nigeria. The firms stated that this is in addition to the previously announced extension to the Canary Islands.



According to reliable reports, the project's consortium, known as 2Africa, includes internet giant Facebook, MTN GlobalConnect of South Africa, Mauritius-based infrastructure provider WIOCC, France's Orange SA, China Mobile International, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone, and Saudi Arabia's STC (Saudi Telecom Company).



Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) has been chosen to deliver the additional branches, which will raise the number of 2Africa landings to 35 in 26 nations, significantly boosting connectivity into and across Africa, the team of the companies stated.



Now that the majority of the subsea route survey work is completed, ASN has begun producing the cable and construct repeater units at its facilities in Calais and Greenwich in preparation for the deployment of the first of the segments in 2022, the companies added.



In May 2020, the group launched the cable, which is scheduled to go operational in late 2023, to connect those nations in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.



Subsea cables serve as the internet's backbone, transporting 99 percent of the world's data flow.



The number of internet users across Africa's major economies is immense and quickly rising, particularly fueled by rapidly growing mobile broadband networks and availability of more inexpensive phones.



However, with a population of little more than 1.3 billion people, Africa is severely lacking when it comes to internet connections, with mobile internet users averaging at about 26% as compared to a global average of 51%.



According to the companies, 2Africa will be the world's largest subsea cable project.



Source credit: https://www.usnews.com/news/technology/articles/2021-08-16/facebook-telcos-to-extend-subsea-cable-to-four-countries

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Sunil Jha

Sunil Jha has been a part of the content industry for close to two years. Having previously worked as a voice over artist and sportswriter, he now focuses on writing articles for newsorigins.com, across a slew of topics, ranging from technology to trade and finance. With a business-oriented educational background, Sunil brings forth the expertise of deep-dive research and a strategic approach in his write ups.