Airtel lands high-speed 2Africa Pearls cable in India

Bharti Airtel Ltd has landed the high-speed 2Africa Pearls cable in India, connecting the country to Africa, and Europe via the Middle East, the telecom operator said in a statement.

The 2Africa Pearls cable is an extension of the 2Africa submarine cable system, which will be the world’s longest subsea cable system when completed, spanning over 45,000 km, and is designed to improve internet connectivity across Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and now India.

Funded by a consortium including Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, the 100 terabits per second cable will help Airtel strengthen its network capabilities and meet the region’s growing digital demands, according to the statement.

“We are aggressively diversifying our global network and recently landed the SEA-WE-ME-6 cable in Chennai and Mumbai. We will continue investing in global cable systems and future-proof our network with an aim to deliver high uptime, reliability, and superior quality network to our customers,” Sharat Sinha, director and chief executive of Airtel Business, said.

The 2Africa cable system is led by a consortium of Bayobab, center3, China Mobile International, Meta, Orange, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone Group, and WIOCC, while Alcatel Submarine Networks is responsible for manufacturing and installation of the cable.

Airtel’s global network spans 400,000 route km across 50 countries and five continents. It also has investments in 34 cables globally, including 2Africa, Southeast Asia-Japan Cable 2 (SJC2) and Equiano.

Airtel also invests in several major cable systems that boost global connectivity such as i2i Cable Network (i2icn), Europe India Gateway (EIG), IMEWE, SEA-ME-WE-4, AAG, Unity, EASSy, Gulf Bridge International (GBI) and Middle East North Africa Submarine Cable (MENA Cable) amongst many others.

The i2i Cable Network offers a dedicated link between India and key regions, while the Europe India Gateway connects India to Europe via the Red Sea.

Other systems such as IMEWE, SEA ME WE 4 and AAG form vital links between Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

In addition, the Unity cable improves connectivity between Europe and Asia, while the EASSy cable connects East Africa to the global network.

Lastly, the Gulf Bridge International and Middle East North Africa Cable strengthen communication in the Gulf and North African regions.