Unitel Lands 2Africa Subsea Cable in Angola

According to the Angolan News Agency (ANGOP), the 2África subsea cable landed on the Cacuaco Beach in Luanda, Angola on Sunday, July 30. Unitel, the Angolan mobile operator, acts as the landing parnter and is the only Angolan operator that joined the 2Africa consortium.

The 2Àfrica consortium comprises eight international partners, namely China Mobile International, Meta (Facebook), MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, center3 (stc), Telecom Egypt, Vodafone/Vodacom and WIOCC.

Zumaia Offershore, operting its Dynamic Positioning 2 (DP2) shallow-draft Multipurpose Supply Vessels(MPSV ) "Nora B", was contracted to carry out the landing, laying, trenching & burial and PLIB (Post Lay Inspection and Burial) of the 2Africa subsea cable offshore Luanda, Angola as well as other landing locations in West Africa. Nora B is working on pre-laying 2Africa branch shore-end section onto the Beach Man Hole (BMH) at Cacuaco Beach, Luanda.

Unitel is the largest mobile operator in Angola.

The Angola State completed the nationalisation of Unitel in October 2022, taking over 50% stakes in Unitel from private companies Vidatel and Geni – representing 25% equity each, raising the Angolan State’s Unitel ownership to 100%. 

Unitel is one of the five shareholders of Angola Cables, established in 2009 as a wholesale network operator and a joint venture of five Angolan operators Angola Telecom (51%), Unitel (31%), MSTelcom (9%), Movicel (6%) and Startel (3%).

Angola Cables was created to consolidate international connectivity in Angola. It provides international connectivity to national operators and develops the interconnection between regional operators. Angola Cables currently owns all the three international subsea cables connecting Angola, i.e., WACS, SACS and SAT-3/WASC.

In addition to the participation in the 2Africa subsea cable project, Unitel completed its domestic Unitel Northern Submarine Cable (UNSC) in January 2023. Supplied by HMN Tech, UNSC spans approximately 1,145km, connecting the provinces of Cabinda and Zaire via two distinct routes.