First of 46 cable landing locations, 45000 kms long, 180 Tbps
The first landing of the 2Africa cable has been completed in Italy under the guidance of Vodafone, the 2Africa landing party in Genoa. The telco worked with partner Equinix to land the cable directly into the Equinix Carrier Neutral Data Center (CNDC), with Retelit delivering the fronthaul. As with all 2Africa cable landings, capacity will be available to service providers in Genoa on a fair and equitable basis, it said.
Working with a local Italian operator, 2Africa has also developed a new terrestrial route connecting the Genoa cable landing station (CLS) directly to major CNDCs in Milan. At 45,000km, 2Africa is expected to be the world’s longest subsea cable to date. A total of 46 cable landing locations are planned for the project before completion in 2024.
There is a design capacity for up to 180 Tbps on key parts of the system.The 2Africa consortium, comprises China Mobile International, Meta, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, stc, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC. Equinix and Vodafone are building a subsea hub in Genoa, GN1, to serve as a strategic interconnection point for the 2Africa cable system.
GN1 will offer customers secure, resilient colocation and interconnection services, as well as the ability to directly leverage Equinix’s digital ecosystems and colocation facilities in Milan. It will provide a capacity of 150 cabinet equivalents, and colocation space of approximately 6,000 square feet (560 square meters).