English (UK) 
简体中文(中国) Vodacom (Pty) Ltd (Vodacom) announced the landing of 2Africa subsea cable at its facility in Gqeberha (South Africa's Eastern Cape), to provide a gateway to direct international connectivity for faster, more reliable internet services in the country.
The 2Africa subsea cable, the largest subsea cable system in the world, has landed at the Vodacom network facility in Gqeberha, South Africa. This is the first submarine cable landing in the Eastern Cape region, promising greater internet capacity and acceleration of connectivity across the province and supporting South Africa's growing digital economy.
The Gqeberha landing is the 2Africa project's third on the coast of South Africa, following two recent landings in the Western Cape (Yzerfontein and Duynefontein) by MTN GlobalConnect.
As the landing partner for 2Africa Gqeberha Landing, Vodacom has built its landing facility includinga a new Beach Man Hole (BMH) on shore at Pollock Beach and then onwards following a terrestrial alignment to an existing cable landing station in Summerstrand.
Vodacom is a leading and purpose-led African connectivity, digital and financial services company, being a subsidiary of Vodafone (60.5% holding), operates in South Africa, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the DRC), Mozambique, Lesotho and Kenya.
Vodafone is one of the 2Africa Consortium members comprising China Mobile International, Meta (Facebook), MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, center3 (stc), Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC.
Through the 2Africa landing at Gqeberha, service providers will be able to obtain capacity on a fair and equitable basis, encouraging and supporting the development of a healthy internet ecosystem. Direct international connectivity can then be provided to data centres, enterprise, and wholesale customers. Once the fibre cable system has been deployed, businesses and consumers will benefit from improved quality, reliability, and lower latency for internet services, including telecommuting, high-definition video streaming and advanced multimedia and mobile video applications.
The 2Africa cable system's landing in the Eastern Cape will also offer the potential for much-needed regional job creation in sectors that rely on direct international connectivity, such as data centres, call centres and software development. This employment opportunity can help contribute to local and national socio-economic development.
In addition to participate in the 2Africa subsea cable system, Vodacom completed in late 2022 the acquisition of Dark Fibre Africa (DFA) for R6 billion ($337.5 million) in cash for a 30% stake in MAZIV, a holding company which encompasses DFA's fibre assets. DFA is the second largest fibre network operator (FNO) in South Africa, following only Telkom-owned Openserve.
The 2Africa cable system has four landings in South Africa, respectively in Yzerfontein and Duynefontein by MTN GlobalConnect, Gqeberha by Vodacom, and Amanzimtoni by WIOCC.
