Telecommunications operator Vodacom announced this Tuesday, August 15, the arrival of the first submarine fiber optic cable in northern Mozambique, guaranteeing that it will support the growth of the country’s digital economy.
In a statement, the operator said that “2Africa”, considered the largest submarine telecommunications cable system in the world, arrived yesterday in the city of Nacala, Nampula province, connecting the optical fiber to the new data center also inaugurated locally by Master Power Technologies, a partner in the project, which will connect 33 countries, 19 of which are in Africa.
“This is the first submarine cable to land in the north of the country, after having landed in Maputo [south] in February, with the promise of greater internet capacity and accelerated connectivity for Vodacom’s customers, supporting the growing digital economy in Mozambique,” said the operator.
The “2Africa” submarine cable connects Europe (with connections in Portugal and the United Kingdom), Africa (Senegal, Ghana, Angola, South Africa, Mozambique, Somalia, Egypt, among others) and Asia (Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India, among others), with a total of 46 points and returns to the European continent via Italy and France.
“Through this submarine fiber optic cable infrastructure, Vodacom will provide a direct international outlet for faster and more reliable internet services in the country,” explains the operator.
The “2Africa” consortium includes eight international partners, such as China Mobile International, Meta, Bayobab, Orange Telecom Egypt; Vodafone Group (Vodacom’s parent company) and WIOCC, which came together in 2020 to “significantly increase the capacity, quality and availability of internet connectivity between Africa and the rest of the world”.
“Vodacom is the designated partner for the landing in Mozambique, providing infrastructure for the installation of cables at existing sites in the Maputo port area and the port of Nacala,” he adds.
“The landing of the ‘2Africa’ submarine cable reaffirms Vodacom’s commitment to boosting digital inclusion in Mozambique and on the African continent by increasing access to quality internet services and investing in network infrastructure to support it. This is an ambitious challenge for which we cannot achieve results alone. Collaboration between other players in the industry and the public sector is essential, in order to connect more citizens in the country and across the continent,” said Vodacom.
From this infrastructure, service providers in Mozambique “will be able to obtain capacity in a fair and equitable manner, encouraging and supporting the development of a healthy internet services ecosystem”.
“Direct international connectivity can then be provided to data centers, companies and distributor customers. Once the fiber optic cable system is deployed, companies and consumers will benefit from better quality, reliability and lower latency for Internet services, including teleworking, high-definition video streaming, as well as advanced multimedia and mobile video applications,” stresses the operator.
