Meta, (formerly Facebook) has said the 2Africa Cable will go live in 2023 and will deliver more than the total combined capacity of all subsea cables currently serving Africa, with a design capacity of up to 180 terabytes per second (Tbps).
Meta’s Vice President for Africa, the Middle East and Turkey, Kojo Boakye disclosed that at the Nigerian Communications Commission office in Abuja during a visit to brief the Executive Vice Chairman, Dr. Adamu Maida of the ongoing efforts to land 2Africa Cable in Nigeria.
He said the cable is 45,000 kilometers long and will be one of the world’s largest subsea cable projects and will interconnect Europe (eastward via Egypt), Asia (via Saudi Arabia), and Africa.
“2Africa Cable will go live in 2023, delivering more than the total combined capacity of all subsea cables currently serving Africa, with a design capacity of up to 180 terabytes per second (Tbps),” he said.
While soliciting NCC’s support in sailing through all necessary legal and regulatory hurdles in landing the submarine cable to complement the existing backbone infrastructure in Nigeria, Boakye noted that the 2Africa will deliver much-needed Internet capacity and reliability across large parts of Africa, supplement the fast-growing capacity demand in the Middle East and underpin further growth of 4G, 5G and fixed broadband access for billions of people, especially in Nigeria.
Responding, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Aminu Maida, assured the support of the Commission awaits law-abiding investors like Meta, which responds positively to Nigeria’s desire for investments that promote the agenda of government to achieve a robust digital economy.
“The regulatory support to all investors, including operators in Nigeria, will be predicated on their playing by the rules and regulations guiding the sector,” he said.
He noted that the Commission places a lot of premium on compliance with industry laws, regulations and guidelines as such will also engender a level playing field for all licensees and other stakeholders in the industry for sustaining healthy competition and guaranteeing sustainable growth in the Nigerian telecoms sector.