All the Undersea Cables Connecting South Africa to the Rest of the World — With Two More on the Way

By Myles Illidge, MyBroadband
March 31, 2025

An extensive network of undersea cables connects South Africa to the rest of the world, and international tech giants Meta Platforms and Google are working on two more.

Ten undersea cables currently connect South Africa to Europe, other coastal African nations, and Asia.

While underground or subterranean cables are commonly used to connect nations on the same continent, international communications require extensive cables laid along the ocean floor between two destinations.

Google announced its plans to connect South Africa and Australia through its Umoja cable project in May 2024. Its construction follows the completion of Google’s Equiano cable connecting Africa and Europe.

The new line will run overland from Kenya through Uganda, Rwanda, Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, where it will transition to a subsea line running across the ocean to Australia.

Google says the new infrastructure will improve coverage in Africa, which suffered in 2024 due to damaged cables.

Meta also announced Project Waterworth — an ambitious undersea cable project that will span more than 50,000km and connect five continents — in February 2025.

Once completed, Project Waterworth will be the world’s longest undersea cable, and Meta says it will be built using the highest-capacity technology available.

“Project Waterworth will bring industry-leading connectivity to the U.S., India, Brazil, South Africa, and other key regions,” said Meta.

It said the cable will help accelerate progress in growing and investing in digital infrastructure in countries like India and South Africa, where significant progress has already been made.

It added that the high-speed capacity enabled through Project Waterworth will drive AI innovation globally.

The company hasn’t indicated an estimated completion date for Project Waterworth.

“Project Waterworth will be a multi-billion dollar, multi-year investment to strengthen the scale and reliability of the world’s digital highways by opening three new oceanic corridors with abundant, high-speed connectivity,” said Meta.

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