2Africa, the world’s largest subsea cable, now reaches South Africa’s Eastern Cape, providing international connectivity for faster, more reliable internet services and local job creation. Most people are unaware that subsea cables carry the vast majority of the world’s intercontinental data, powering the internet. They are integral to countries’ abilities to modernize, digitize and grow their economies.
The 2Africa subsea cable is the largest subsea cable system in the world, and when it is completed in 2024, it will circle the whole of Africa. The system will connect countries on the continent to both Europe and the Middle East. The cable’s latest landing is at the Vodacom network facility in Gqeberha, South Africa.
This cable expansion will deliver benefits to the Eastern Cape region, including improved 4G, 5G and fixed broadband access to underserved and rural areas of the Eastern Cape and surrounding provinces. It will improve the quality, reliability and lower latency for consumer and business internet services and provide much-needed regional job creation in sectors such as data centers, call centers and software development.
“This latest 2Africa cable landing affirms Vodacom’s commitment to driving digital inclusion in Africa 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,” said Diego Gutierrez, Vodacom Group chief officer.