2Africa

Assembled from 19 blocks · 1 evidence · 12 related

1. Story
2. The cable system that encircles Africa, led by Meta with a consortium of regional and international operators, and — on the figures published at its completion — the longest submarine cable system yet built. Meta announced the completion of the core system on 17 November 2025; with the Pearls extension from the Horn of Africa to South Asia and around the Persian Gulf due in 2026, the full system length is given as about 45,000 km, longer than the circumference of the Earth, landing in 33 countries across three continents. Two features belong in this Journey. It is an open-access system, meaning capacity is sold to operators rather than reserved to its builders, which matters in markets where a single incumbent controlling the only international cable has been a structural constraint on prices. And its construction has been shaped by conflict: planned landings on the Red Sea coast — for 2Africa and for other systems — have been delayed by the security situation off Yemen, which is a plain demonstration that where a cable can go is decided by politics and not only by bathymetry.
3. Knowledge
4. Marseille
5. 2Africa
6. The shift of cable ownership to content providers
7. Connections
8. Marseille
9. The shift of cable ownership to content providers
10. The core of 2Africa is completed
11. The cable chokepoint
12. 2Africa
13. The core of 2Africa is completed
14. MAREA
15. 2Africa
16. MAREA is completed across the Atlantic
17. The core of 2Africa is completed
18. Evidence
19. Supports the completion date of the core system, the 33-country landing count, the roughly 45,000 km full system length including the Pearls extension due in 2026, and the open-access model. V55 verification basis: retrieved in summary, not opened. This is a consortium announcing its own system, the length figure includes an extension not in service at that date, and the "longest built" description is the consortium's own claim.