2Africa Cable Lands in Mozambique
By Total Telecom
August 15, 2023
2Africa, the largest submarine cable system in the world, was officially launched today in Mozambique, 15th August, in the city of Nacala-Porto. A first-of-its-kind data centre was also officially opened today by project partner, Master Power Technologies.
This is the first submarine cable to land in the north of the country. It promises greater internet capacity and accelerated connectivity for Vodacom customers, supporting the growing digital economy in Mozambique.
Through this submarine fibre optic cable infrastructure, Vodacom will provide a direct international gateway for faster and more reliable internet services in the country.
The 2Africa consortium includes eight international partners: China Mobile International; Meta; Bayobab (Formerly MTN GlobalConnect); Orange; Center3; Telecom Egypt; Vodafone Group (the parent company of Vodacom); and WIOCC. These companies have partnered to build 2Africa. Launched in May 2020, the 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 landing, providing infrastructure for the cable installation at existing sites in the Maputo harbour 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. 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,” revealed José Mendes, Managing Executive: Vodacom Business, Mozambique.
From this infrastructure, service providers will be able to obtain capacity on a fair and equitable basis, encouraging and supporting the development of a healthy internet services ecosystem. Direct international connectivity can then be provided to data centres, enterprises, and wholesale customers. Once the fibre 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.