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Largest subsea cable reaches the Eastern Cape
By Sinazo Mkoko
Building an inclusive digital society on the continent and beyond
Known as the “home of legends,” the Eastern Cape is South Africa’s second-largest province by land mass with 169 580 square kilometres (13.9% of South Africa). It’s a province that is rich in natural resources, from grazing land to forests, marine life to rich farming soils, water to wilderness. It’s a province with its fair share of socio-economic challenges but at the heart of people living in this province, is the African community spirit of Ubuntu and perhaps one of the many reasons investors are, despite everything, attracted to the province.
For the first time ever, the largest subsea cable has reached the Eastern Cape province, laying a foundation for bigger and faster internet capacity and acceleration of connectivity across the province while supporting South Africa’s growing digital economy.
The cable’s latest landing is at the Vodacom network facility in Gqeberha in the province and it’s the 2Africa project’s third on the coast of South Africa, following two landings in the Western Cape province by MTN GlobalConnect.
According to Vodacom, the 2Africa subsea cable is the largest subsea cable system in the world and, when it is completed in 2024, will circle the whole of Africa, and will connect countries in the continent to Europe and the Middle East.
China Mobile International, Meta (Facebook), MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, center3 (STC), Telecom Egypt, Vodafone/Vodacom, and WIOCC are the eight international partners that have collaborated to build 2Africa.
MORE INFO ABOUT THE 2AFRICA CABLE SYSTEM
• Manufactured and deployed by Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN)
• The 2Africa Consortium includes eight international partners, China Mobile International, Meta (Facebook), MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, center3 (stc), Telecom Egypt, Vodafone/Vodacom and WIOCC
• 45 000 kilometres in length (almost entirely circling Africa)
• Design capacity of 180 terabytes per second (more than the combined capacity of all subsea cables serving Africa today)
• Will interconnect Europe (eastward via Egypt), the Middle East (via Saudi Arabia) and Africa, covering 19 countries in Africa and 33 countries in total
• An RTI study predicted the economic impact of 2Africa to be between US$26.2-billion to US$36.9-billion (~€24.1-billion to €34-billion), equivalent to 0.42-0.58% of Africa’s GDP, within two to three years of becoming operational
• Due for completion in 2024
Some of the benefits the province’s business owners, residents and the public at large will reap include an improved 4G, 5G and fixed broadband access to underserved and rural areas of the Eastern Cape and surrounding provinces; improved quality, reliability and lower latency for consumer and business internet services; and much-needed regional job creation in sectors such as data centres, call centres and software development.
Vodacom’s Group Chief Officer for International Markets, Diego Gutierrez said this forms part of the company’s commitment to driving digital inclusion in the continent by increasing access to quality internet services and investing in the network infrastructure to support this goal. “We cannot achieve this alone, and collaboration between other industry stakeholders and the public sector is critical in enabling more citizens across the continent to be connected,” he said.
He added that they are happy to be working with their partners in the 2Africa project to bring faster, more reliable internet to local businesses and consumers as the subsea cable system enables more communities to access “transformative online resources, from education and healthcare to jobs and financial services, and experience seamless connectivity’s economic and social benefits.”
Through the 2Africa landing at Gqeberha, service providers will be able to obtain capacity on a fair and equitable basis, encouraging and supporting the development of a healthy internet ecosystem, Vodacom says.
The project strengthens further growth of 4G, 5G and fixed broadband access by providing improved connectivity to disadvantaged and rural areas “and network resilience from the Eastern Cape to the rest of South Africa.”
In addition to this, Vodacom said a gateway to international connectivity, the cable’s landing at Gqeberha will help to develop telecommunications networks in the Eastern Cape and surrounding provinces.
“Direct international connectivity can then be provided to data centres, enterprise, and wholesale customers. Once the fibre cable system has been deployed, businesses and consumers will benefit from improved quality, reliability, and lower latency for internet services, including telecommuting, high-definition video streaming and advanced multimedia and mobile video applications.
“The cable system’s landing in the Eastern Cape will also offer the potential for much-needed regional job creation in sectors that rely on direct international connectivity, such as data centres, call centres and software development. This employment opportunity can help contribute to local and national socio-economic development,” - Vodacom.
