# 2Africa

2Africa is an international submarine telecommunications cable that circumnavigates the coastline of Africa to interconnect Europe and the Middle East.
The system will be one of the first to use spatial division multiplexing (SDM1) and has a design capacity of 180 Tbps across 16 fiber pairs. When complete, 2Africa will be the largest subsea cable in the world, at 45,000 kilometers long, connecting 46 cable landing stations across 33 countries.
2Africa passes from Europe through the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean, and then back into Europe via the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
The system is to be constructed by Alcatel Submarine Networks and is intended to be operational in Q4 2025.

## Cable ownership

2Africa is funded by a consortium consisting of eight members, namely:
* Meta Platforms
* China Mobile
* MTN Group
* Orange S.A.
* Saudi Telecom Company
* Telecom Egypt
* Vodafone Group Plc
* West Indian Ocean Cable Company

### Open access model

The consortium has mandated that every operator of 2Africa must provide effective access to the international capacity at reasonable prices and on non-discriminatory terms. Cable landing station operators can be penalized and even completely disconnected from the 2Africa system if they fail to provide access to capacity at their landing points.

## Landing points and operators

2Africa Cable Landing Points :
| Location | Operator & Technical Partner |
| Barcelona, Spain | AFR-IX Telecom |
| Marseille, France | Vodafone Group Plc |
| Genoa, Italy | Vodafone Group Plc |
| Tympaki, Greece | Vodafone Group Plc |
| Port Said, Egypt | Telecom Egypt |
| Ras Ghareb, Egypt | Telecom Egypt |
| Duba, Saudi Arabia | Saudi Telecom Company |
| Yanbu, Saudi Arabia | Saudi Telecom Company |
| Jeddah, Saudi Arabia | Saudi Telecom Company |
| Djibouti City, Djibouti | Djibouti Telecom |
| Berbera, Somaliland | SomCable |
| Mogadishu, Somalia | Dalkom Somalia |
| Victoria, Seychelles | Intelvision |
| Mtwapa, Kenya | Airtel Kenya |
| Mombasa, Kenya | Airtel Kenya |
| Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania | Airtel Tanzania |
| Nacala, Mozambique | Vodacom Mozambique |
| Mahajanga, Madagascar | Telma Madagascar |
| Maputo, Mozambique | Vodacom Mozambique |
| Amanzimtoti, South Africa | West Indian Ocean Cable Company |
| Gqeberha, South Africa | Vodacom |
| Yzerfontein, South Africa | MTN Group |
| Duynefontein, South Africa | MTN Group |
| Luanda, Angola | Unitel Angola |
| Moanda, DR Congo | Orange RDC, Airtel DRC |
| Pointe-Noire, DR Congo | Orange RDC, Airtel DRC |
| Libreville, Gabon | Airtel Gabon |
| Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria | MainOne (Equinix) |
| Lagos, Nigeria | Bayobab (MTN Group) |
| Accra, Ghana | Bayobab (MTN Group) |
| Abidjan, Ivory Coast | MTN Group |
| Dakar, Senegal | Sonatel |
| Telde, Canary Islands | Vodafone Group Plc |
| Carcavelos, Portugal | Vodafone Group Plc |
| Bude, United Kingdom | Vodafone Group Plc |
In September 2021, 2Africa announced a new segment of the cable called '2Africa PEARLS', which extends to the Persian Gulf, India and Pakistan.
2Africa PEARLS Branch :
| Location | Operator & Technical Partner |
| Kalba, UAE | Etisalat by e& |
| Barka, Oman | Ooredoo Oman |
| Salalah, Oman | Ooredoo Oman |
| Doha, Qatar | Vodafone Qatar |
| Manama, Bahrain | Saudi Telecom Company |
| Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia | Saudi Telecom Company |
| Kuwait City, Kuwait | KEMS Zajil Telecom |
| Al-Faw, Iraq | ITPC |
| Karachi, Pakistan | Transworld Associates |
| Mumbai, India | Bharti Airtel |