Bayobab, MTN Partner To Lay Nigeria’s Longest Subsea Cable

Bayobab, a pan-African digital connectivity solutions provider, has partnered with MTN Nigeria to lay 45,000km subsea cable known as ‘2Africa’ in Nigeria.

2Africa is said to be the longest underwater cable in the world, passing through three continents and 33 countries, several of which are in Africa; expanding the rapidly growing African digital economy and positively impacting growth across the continent.

According to the managing director of Bayobab Nigeria, Josephine Sarouk, the cable will directly support economic development in Africa, fostering further growth of 4G and 5G and increasing broadband penetration for millions of people and businesses.

“Bayobab has invested in a myriad of submarine cables to boost much-needed broadband capacity to the continent; and bolster efforts to leverage technology to connect the unconnected in Africa and beyond”

“The landing of 2Africa in Nigeria will supercharge Nigeria’s digital economy, creating space for a vibrant ecosystem bringing digital services to millions of Nigerians in line with the government’s vision for a thriving digital economy.”

“Our investment in 2Africa is part of our commitment to our customers, bringing resilience to networks and capacity due to the growing demands for digital services such as Fintech, IOT, AI, e-learning, which continue to revolutionise the way customers engage with services, fueling the demand for more data. This landing is further proof of our long-held confidence in the future of the continent,” she said.

Sarouk noted that this landing was further proof of the organisation’s long-held confidence in the future of the continent.

Also Read: Meta’s 2Africa submarine cable to reach Nigeria in February

According to her, the landing of the cable means that Nigerian service providers can access capacity in an open access cable landing station on a fair and equitable basis.

She said that this supported healthy ecosystem development by facilitating greatly improved quality and accessibility of internet connectivity for consumers and local businesses across all sectors.

The managing director said that this milestone achievement by Bayobab and MTN Nigeria would spur economic growth, innovation and development in the nation.

She added that 2Africa was said to be the longest underwater cable in the world, passing through three continents and 33 countries, several of which are in Africa.

According to her, it’s all about expanding the rapidly growing African digital economy and positively impacting growth across the continent.

Sarouk said that the 2Africa consortium included Bayobab, Center3, China Mobile International, Meta, Orange, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone Group, and WIOCC.

Nigeria has five international submarine cables with a capacity of over 40 Tbps. These cables include SAT3 cable, MainOne cable, Glo1 cable, ACE cable, and WACS cable.