As part of the original plan, Djibouti will be a landing station for the 2Africa submarine cable led by Facebook. On Tuesday 28th September 2021 Facebook announced that the 2Africa cable would now extend to over 45,000 kilometers with the addition of nine new landings collectively named the 2Africa Pearls. The subsea cable will directly connect three continents — Africa, Europe and Asia.
The 2Africa Pearls branch includes new locations connecting terrestrially through Egypt — Bahrain, India, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The extension will see 2Africa become the longest subsea cable system in the world upon completion, Facebook said. It will beat the current record set by the SEA-ME-WE 3 line that stretches 39,000 km and connects 33 countries across South East Asia, Middle East and Western Europe. Before this extension the system sought to provide connectivity to 1.2 billion people but this extension will add 1.8 billion making it 3 billion in total – 36% of the global population!
In its entirety, 2Africa will significantly increase connectivity within Africa and better connect Africa to the rest of the world, as it will ultimately interconnect 33 countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.