It has been announced by Transworld Associates that the 2Africa cable would arrive in Karachi, Pakistan. It will link 33 different countries through 46 landing sites in both Asia and Europe, making it the biggest underwater cable infrastructure in the world at 45,000 km. Eight partners make up the partnership behind the cable, which was first revealed in 2020: China Mobile International, Baobab, center3, Meta, Orange, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone, and WIOCC.
In 2021, the 2Africa Pearls extension to the original 2Africa cable emerged, with additional landing stations to be located in Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Pakistan, India, and Saudi Arabia.
China Mobile International & Meta are the two alliance parties who are in charge of the Karachi cabling. Transworld associates (pvt.) ltd. has been hired by the two to oversee and manage the landing.
The 16-fiber pair, 180Tbps cable was deployed and manufactured by Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN). Landings on the west part of the cable commenced in August 2023, while the installation of the East African side commenced in late 2022. The majority of the cable that links South Africa, Tanzania, & Kenya went operational last month.
Transworld Associates President Saad Muzaffar Waraich stated ,”The 2Africa submarine cable is perfectly synchronised for facilitating direct connection with worldwide service providers,”.
In addition to overseeing system maintenance for the foreseeable future, TWA will spearhead the construction of the carrier-neutral cable landing station’s critical infrastructure. This project is anticipated to strengthen Pakistan’s position as a regional hub for connectivity and is in line with that goal.
According to Ismail Shah, who oversees Meta’s connectivity policy for the Asia Pacific domain, Pakistan is expecting an increase in capacity, which will result in more reliable and strong Internet services. Meta is pleased to sponsor 2Africa; we anticipate that the system’s strategic linkage through subsea cable will open up new avenues for further integration with international markets and spur the expansion of digital services throughout the country.
The SeaMeWe-3, 4, and 5 cables are currently located in Karachi, while the SeaMeWe-6 cable is scheduled to be operational in 2025. The city is also the landing point for the AAE-1, IMEWE, Peace, & Transworld-1 cables.
A collaboration between Omzest Group, located in Oman, and Orastar Limited resulted in the formation of the Pakistani telecom company Transworld Associates. The corporation controls the Transworld-1 cable, which links Oman and the United Arab Emirates with Pakistan. The company is a participant in the SeaMeWe-5 underwater cable consortium. – supernews.pk
Maria Ghanchi