MTN Group’s digital infrastructure arm, Bayobab, has been recognized as one of the key partners behind the completion of 2Africa, the world’s longest subsea cable system, at a ceremony in Cape Town, underscoring Africa’s growing influence in global connectivity infrastructure.
The 45,000-kilometer system, led by Meta and built over nearly six years, is the first to link East and West Africa in a continuous loop while extending onward to the Middle East, South Asia and Europe. Spanning 50 jurisdictions, the project required constant regulatory and technical adaptation to maintain delivery timelines.
“For MTN, 2Africa isn’t just a cable but rather a statement of intent of what can be achieved when the world’s technology leaders and Africa’s own champions come together with purpose,” said Mazen Mroué, CEO of MTN Group Digital Infrastructure, who received the award on behalf of MTN and Bayobab. “This project stands as proof that global scale and African leadership can combine to build the infrastructure that will define the next chapter of Africa’s growth story. Yes, together we’re connecting Africa to the world, but above all, we’re connecting Africa to its potential.”
The system is expected to reshape international bandwidth supply on the continent, delivering 21 Tbps per fibre pair on its western segment and more than 30 Tbps per pair in the Mediterranean, where shorter distances allow higher throughput. In total, segments of the cable can deliver up to 180 Tbps. Bayobab said the new capacity could add as much as $36.9 billion to Africa’s GDP within two to three years of commercial activation, supporting job growth, innovation hubs and digital services adoption.
With landings in more than 33 countries, 2Africa is projected to enable connectivity for as many as 3 billion people, representing over 30 percent of the global population. That scale, the consortium said, was possible only through coordinated work across governments, regulators and private-sector players.
“At MTN, we view connectivity as the foundation of Africa’s digital future. Through Bayobab, we bring world-class infrastructure capability and the reach of a network serving over 300 million subscribers across 16 African markets,” Mroué said. He added that Bayobab’s cable footprint of nearly 135,000 kilometers strengthens the continent’s readiness for digital transformation and AI-driven applications.
The project also pushed the limits of subsea engineering. The cable is twice the capacity of older systems and incorporates spatial division multiplexing and undersea optical wavelength switching, allowing dynamic bandwidth allocation to meet demand from cloud services, data centers and AI workloads. Engineers increased burial depth by 50 percent and rerouted sections to avoid hazards such as hot brine pools and Congo Canyon turbidity currents.
More than 35 offshore vessels and extensive local operations were involved in the installation phase. The consortium includes Bayobab, Meta, center3, CMI, Orange, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone Group and WIOCC.
The celebration event was held at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town.
