Facebook’s 2Africa, one of the largest subsea cable projects in the world, is expected to be completed between 2023 and early 2024, BusinessDay can report. When completed, the project would connect Europe, the Middle East, and 16 countries in Africa including Nigeria.
A spokesperson for the company told BusinessDay that work is already commencing on preparation for the marine surveys, including desk-top studies of the detailed routing of the cable. Facebook expects component manufacture to start by the end of 2021 while the cable laying will start in 2021.
“2Africa cable landing stations will be owned and managed by 2Africa parties or, where necessary experienced local partners managed by one of 2Africa partners,” Kezia Anim-Addo, Head of Communications, Facebook Africa told BusinessDay.
At nearly 37,000 kilometres long, the 2Africa project is nearly equal to the circumference of the earth and would provide nearly three times the total network capacity of all the subsea cables currently serving Africa.
Nigeria has five major fibre cable operators; MainOne (10Tb), SAT3/SAFE (800Gb); WACS (14.5Tb); Glo1 (2.5Tb); and ACE (5Tb), with a combined capacity of 32.800Tbps.
As of 2019, Nigeria had only deployed 38,000 kilometres of fibre optic cables leaving it with a deficit of 82,000 kilometres. The country requires around 120,000 kilometres of fibre network to achieve pervasive broadband coverage.
When the 2Africa cable is completed, Facebook expects it to deliver an expansive internet capacity, redundancy, and reliability across Africa; supplement a rapidly increasing demand for capacity in the Middle East; and support further growth of 4G, 5G, and broadband access for hundreds of millions of people. With thrice the capacity of existing cables, Facebook would by far become the largest network operator in Nigeria and Africa.
Facebook said it is working with local partners including Facebook, China Mobile International, MTN GlobalConnect, STC, Vodafone, and WIOCC to build 2Africa.
“The 2Africa parties and Airtel have also signed an agreement with Telecom Egypt to provide a completely new crossing linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, the first in over a decade,” Anim-Addo said.
