English (UK) 
简体中文(中国) The 2Africa subsea cable had its first landing in Marseille on Sunday November 6, 2022, for its connection from Marseille to Barcelona. 2Africa is the first cable pulled through the Port of Marseille Fos submarine cable landing infrastructure, to be termiated at the InterXion MSR3 carrier neutral data center. Vodafone is the landing party for the 2Africa Marseille landing.
At 45,000 km connecting 33 countries, the 2Africa cable is set to become the longest submarine cable ever deployed. The 2Africa cable system will be operational in 2023 and will have a nominal capacity of up to 180 Tbps and will comprise 16 fiber pairs. With the potential to connect more than three billion people across Africa, Europe and Asia, it should ultimately increase the economic potential of the African continent tenfold, promote data transfer and develop business opportunities.
The 2Africa consortium is comprised of China Mobile International, Meta, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, STC, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC.
Prior to the arrival in Marseille, the 2Africa cable has successfully landed in Genoa, Barcelona, Djibouti, Somaliland, etc.
Vodafone is the landing party in Marseille, partnering with the Port of Marseille Fos and Digital Realty (InterXion) to land the world’s longest submarine cable. With the landing of this cable, the city of Marseille strengthens its position as a data exchange hotspot and aims to become one of the top five Internet hubs internationally.
Arrived on November 3 off Marseilles, the cable ship Ile de Sein, owned by Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), made the first landing for 2Africa in Marseille.
The landing operation, which took place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., consisted in connecting the on-board cable to the ground. This first connection, in one of the six ducts of the Port of Marseille Fos submarine cable landing infrastructure., offers numerous advantages, in terms of safety and operations, compared to burying the cable on the beach. Significant drilling work was carried out to allow the cable to cross the dike, the port basin to emerge at the level of the Pinède car terminal where the landing chamber was built.
At the end of the afternoon, the Ile de Sein gradually moved away from the port, unrolling the submarine cable mile after mile towards Barcelona. Once this segment has been laid, the Alcatel Submarine Networks ship will return to Marseille for a second landing and a connection to Genoa.
