Bayobab recognized for role in completing world’s longest subsea cable project
MTN Group’s infrastructure division, Bayobab, participated in a Cape Town ceremony recognizing the completion of 2Africa, a subsea cable system that represents the longest underwater telecommunications project globally and establishes the first continuous link between the eastern and western coasts of Africa while extending to the Middle East, South Asia, and Europe. The META-led consortium effort took nearly six years to build across 50 jurisdictions and is expected to contribute up to $36.9 billion to African GDP within two to three years while enabling connectivity for 3 billion people through landings in more than 33 countries.
The cable delivers 168 terabits per second on its western segment from England to South Africa and exceeds 180 Tbps in Mediterranean sections using advanced spatial division multiplexing technology and undersea optical wavelength switching. MTN Group Digital Infrastructure CEO Mazen Mroue emphasized that the project demonstrates how international technology partners and African organizations can collaborate to build transformative infrastructure, with Bayobab operating nearly 135,000 kilometers of cable serving over 300 million subscribers across 16 African markets.
