Within its continuous efforts to enhance its value proposition, Telecom Egypt announces the recent successful landing of the 2Africa subsea cable in Port Said.
This milestone marks the second and final 2Africa landing in Egypt, coming five months after the first landing in the Red Sea city of Ras Ghareb. The landing in Port Said also marks the completion of 2Africa installations on Egyptian territory. It is worth mentioning that Telecom Egypt completed 2Africa’s terrestrial crossing in Egypt ahead of schedule in 2020; meanwhile, in October 2022, it concluded the third marine path connecting the Ras Ghareb and Suez landing stations.
Since its early deployment of telegraph subsea cables connecting Africa, Europe, and Asia about 150 years ago, Egypt has been the most reliable and trusted hub linking the three continents. In addition to this well-established history in the subsea cable industry, Telecom Egypt capitalizes on the nation’s extensive coastlines on both the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea (1,941km and 995 km, respectively), giving it a competitive advantage in providing a geodiverse, uniform integral system via an ever-expanding international network.
Mohamed Nasr, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at Telecom Egypt, commented: “I’m pleased to be working with a team of top-notch professionals to pursue Telecom Egypt’s relentless efforts to strengthen its international infrastructure. Today, we are thrilled to announce that 2Africa has been connected to the Port Said station, our latest and final milestone in linking the world’s longest subsea cable to Egypt. Our contribution to the international submarine infrastructure demonstrates our commitment to offering state-of-the-art solutions to partners and customers both locally and internationally. In the coming phase, we aim to realize more of our potential as we work on new initiatives and roll out cutting-edge products that will take the ICT industry to the next level.”
Seif Mounib, Vice President for International and Wholesale at Telecom Egypt, commented: “At Telecom Egypt, the deployment of a subsea system is not merely a commercial transaction. As such, landing a cable does not mark the end of the process; it ushers in a long-term partnership that lasts 25 years or more to ensure the secure lifetime operation of the cable. The company’s success stories over the years are a testament to this–in addition to being the subsea cable deployment partner of choice for more than 160 major subsea cable players. To date, Telecom Egypt has invested in cable landing stations and a total of 5,300km crossing routes. Meanwhile, the company’s numerous infrastructure projects aim to increase the robustness of the global high-density traffic routes, enabling its partners to grow, meet their communications needs, and ensure low-cost network ownership.”
Paul Gabla, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Alcatel Submarine Networks, commented: “Having worked with Telecom Egypt for decades to mutually serve the telecom community in laying subsea systems along Egypt’s coasts, we have witnessed the speedy improvement in their cycle of permits, approvals and landing-related logistics. In addition to Egypt’s privileged geo-location and its large territory bridging two main submarine cable routes, Telecom Egypt complements those enabling natural factors with its vast experience in landing subsea systems and a team of dedicated and skilled professionals capable of tackling and overcoming any potential operational challenges.”
Launched in May 2020 by a consortium of firms – Telecom Egypt, Meta, China Mobile International, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, center3 (stc), Vodafone and WIOCC – and with the contracting of Alcatel Submarine Networks (“ASN”) to build the cable, the 2Africa subsea cable system is designed to deliver seamless international connectivity solutions and boost internet connectivity, linking Africa with the rest of the world. It further enhances Egypt’s position as a key international hub for global communication networks.
2Africa lands in two carefully-chosen sites in Egypt: on the Red Sea, it lands at the Ras Ghareb landing site, located 100km south of the Zafarana cable landing station, whereas the Mediterranean landing site, Port Said, is located 250km east of the Alexandria landing station. Both landing stations will connect via two terrestrial trans-Egypt routes adjacent to the Suez Canal. The crossing solution, deployed with next-generation fibre technology, will offer seamless optical paths between Africa, Asia, and Europe. It is complemented with the subsea festoon in the Red Sea on Telecom Egypt’s Red2Med cable system, which connects the Red Sea landing stations of Ras Ghareb, Zafarana, and Suez adding an extra layer of diversity to the crossing.
Upon completion in 2024, 2Africa will be one of the world’s largest subsea cable projects interconnecting Europe, Asia, and Africa. The 45,000km system will deliver more than the total combined capacity of all subsea cables serving Africa today. With its 16 fibre-pairs’ count and a design capacity of up to 180Tbps, 2Africa will connect 33 countries through 46 landings, ultimately enhancing global connectivity, and facilitating communications for over 3 billion people over fast, secure, cost-efficient routes. It 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 the further growth of 4G, 5G and fixed broadband access.
As part of the 2Africa consortium, Telecom Egypt reaffirms its commitment to driving digital inclusion and development in Africa by increasing access to high quality internet services and investing in the network infrastructure to seamlessly match traffic between Africa, Asia, and Europe. It further highlights the global trust in Telecom Egypt’s infrastructure, which carries 90% of the international traffic crossing the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea.
