MENLO PARK, Calif.,
Aug. 17, 2021 /CNW/ -- The 2Africa
consortium, comprised of China Mobile International, Facebook, MTN
GlobalConnect, Orange, stc, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC,
announced today the addition of four new branches to the 2Africa
cable. The branches will extend 2Africa's connectivity to the
Seychelles, the Comoros Islands,
and Angola, and bring a new
landing to south-east Nigeria. The
new branches join the recently announced extension to the Canary
Islands.
2Africa, which will be the largest subsea cable project in the
world, will deliver faster, more reliable internet service to each
country where it lands. Communities that rely on the internet for
services from education to healthcare, and business will experience
the economic and social benefits that come from this increased
connectivity.
Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) has been selected to deploy the
new branches, which will increase the number of 2Africa landings to
35 in 26 countries, further improving connectivity into and around
Africa. As with other 2Africa
cable landings, capacity will be available to service providers at
carrier-neutral data centres or open-access cable landing stations
on a fair and equitable basis, encouraging and supporting the
development of a healthy internet ecosystem.
Marine surveys completed for most of the cable and Cable
manufacturing is underway
Since launching the 2Africa cable in May
2020, the 2Africa consortium has made considerable progress
in planning and preparing for the deployment of the cable, which is
expected to 'go live' late 2023. Most of the subsea route survey
activity is now complete. ASN has started manufacturing the cable
and building repeater units in its factories in Calais and
Greenwich to deploy the first
segments in 2022.
Egypt terrestrial crossing
already completed
One of 2Africa's key segments, the Egypt terrestrial crossing that interconnects
landing sites on the Red and the Mediterranean Seas via two
completely diverse terrestrial routes, has been completed ahead of
schedule. A third diverse marine path will complement this segment
via the Red Sea.
About China Mobile International Limited
China Mobile International Limited (CMI) is a wholly-owned
subsidiary of China Mobile, mainly responsible for the operation of
China Mobile's international business. In order
to provide better services to meet the growing demand in the
international telecommunications market, China Mobile established a
subsidiary, CMI, in December 2010.
CMI currently has over 70 terrestrial and submarine cable resources
worldwide, with a total international transmission bandwidth of
98T, and more than 180 PoPs. With Hong Kong, China as its launchpad, CMI has
significantly accelerated global IDC development, creating a strong
network for data centre cloudification.
Leveraging the strong support by China Mobile, CMI is a trusted
partner that provides comprehensive international information
services and solutions to international
enterprises, carriers and mobile users. Headquartered in
Hong Kong, China, CMI has expanded
its footprint in 37 countries and regions. For more information,
please visit www.cmi.chinamobile.com.
About Facebook
Founded in 2004, Facebook's mission is to give people the power
to build community and bring the world closer together. Over 2
billion people use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger
every month to stay connected with friends and family, to discover
what is going on in the world, and to share and express what
matters to them. Facebook is defined by its unique culture – one
that rewards impact. The company encourages people to be bold and
solve the problems they care most about. The phrase "this journey
is 1% finished" reminds the company's teams that they have only
begun to fulfill Facebook's mission. As the company evolves its
journey to bring the world closer together, it stays true to the
same core values to guide the way it works and the decisions it
makes every step of the way: be open, be bold, move fast, focus on
impact, and build social value. For more information, please
visit https://www.linkedin.com/company/facebook/about/.
About MTN GlobalConnect
GlobalConnect is a Pan-African digital wholesale and
infrastructure services company, and an operating company in the
MTN Group. GlobalConnect manages MTN's international and national
major wholesale activities, in addition to offering reliable
wholesale and infrastructure solutions for fixed connectivity and
wholesale mobility solutions that include international mobile
services, Voice, SMS, signalling, roaming and interconnect. The MTN
Group launched in 1994 is a leading emerging market operator with a
clear vision to lead the delivery of a bold new digital world and
is inspired by the belief that everyone deserves the benefits of a
modern connected life. Embracing the Ambition 2025 strategy, MTN is
anchored on building the largest and most valuable platform
business, with a clear focus on Africa. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE
Securities Exchange in South
Africa under the share code "MTN".
For more information, please visit www.globalconnect.solutions -
https://www.mtn.com
About Orange
Orange is one of the world's leading telecommunications
operators with sales of 42.3 billion
euros in 2020 and 139,000 employees worldwide at
30 June 2021, including 80,000
employees in France. The Group has
a total customer base of 263 million customers worldwide at
30 June 2021, including 218 million
mobile customers and 22 million fixed broadband customers. The
Group is present in 26 countries. Orange is also a leading provider
of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational
companies, under the brand Orange Business Services. In
December 2019, the Group presented
its new "Engage 2025" strategic plan, which, guided by social and
environmental accountability, aims to reinvent its operator model.
While accelerating in growth areas and placing data and AI at the
heart of its innovation model, the Group will be an attractive and
responsible employer, adapted to emerging professions.
Orange is listed on Euronext Paris (symbol ORA) and on the New
York Stock Exchange (symbol ORAN).
For more information on the internet and on your mobile:
www.orange.com, www.orange-business.com or to follow us on Twitter:
@orangegrouppr.
About stc
With its headquarter in Riyadh,
stc group is the largest in the Middle
East and North Africa based
on market cap. stc's revenue for 2020 amounted to 58,953 million SAR (15,721
million US dollars) and the net profit amounted to
10,995 million SAR (2,932 million US dollars). stc was established in
1998 and currently has customers around the globe. It is ranking
among the world's top 50 digital companies and the first in the
Middle East and North Africa according to Forbes. It focuses
on providing services to enterprise and consumer customers through
a fiber-optic network that spans 217,000 kilometers. stc group was
among the first in MENA region to launch 5G networks and was
considered one of the fastest globally in deploying 5G network as
stc already deployed around 4,000 5G towers as end of 2020. stc
group has 14 subsidiaries in the Kingdom, gulf and around the
world, and its own 100% of stc Bahrain, 51.8% stake in stc Kuwait and 25% stake in Binariang GSM Holding
in Malaysia which owns 62% of
Maxis in Malaysia.
In Saudi Arabia (the group's
main operation site) stc operates the largest modern mobile network
in the Middle East as it covers
more than 99% of the country's populated areas in addition to
providing 4G mobile broadband to about 90% of the population across
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In
addition to the above-mentioned, stc is a strong regional player in
IoT, managed services, system integration, cloud computing,
information security, big data Analytics fintech and artificial
intelligence. For more information, please visit
https://www.stc.com.sa; or to follow us on Twitter: @stc ,
@stc_ksa
About Telecom Egypt
Telecom Egypt is the first
total telecom operator in Egypt
providing all telecom services to its customers including fixed and
mobile voice and data services. Telecom Egypt has a long history serving Egyptian
customers for over 160 years maintaining a leadership position in
the Egyptian telecom market by offering its enterprise and consumer
customers the most advanced technology, reliable infrastructure
solutions and the widest network of submarine cables. Aside
from its mobile operation "WE", the company owns a 45% stake in
Vodafone Egypt. Telecom Egypt's
shares and GDRs (Ticker: ETEL.CA; TEEG.LN) are traded on The
Egyptian Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. Please refer to
Telecom Egypt's full financial disclosure on ir.te.eg
For more information, contact:
The investor relations team
Email: investor.relations@te.eg
About Vodafone
Vodafone is a leading telecommunications company in Europe and Africa. Our purpose is to "connect for a
better future" enabling an inclusive and sustainable digital
society. Our expertise and scale gives us a unique
opportunity to drive positive change for society. Our networks keep
family, friends, businesses and governments connected and – as
COVID-19 has clearly demonstrated – we play a vital role in keeping
economies running and the functioning of critical sectors like
education and healthcare.
Vodafone is the largest mobile and fixed network operator in
Europe and a leading global IoT
connectivity provider. Our M-Pesa technology platform in
Africa enables 50m people to benefit from access to mobile
payments and financial services. We operate mobile and fixed
networks in 21 countries and partner with mobile networks in 49
more. As of 30 June 2021, we had over
300m mobile customers, more than
28m fixed broadband customers, over
22m TV customers and we connected
130m IoT devices.
We support diversity and inclusion through our maternity and
parental leave policies, empowering women through connectivity and
improving access to education and digital skills for women, girls,
and society at large. We are respectful of all individuals,
irrespective of race, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual
orientation, gender identity, belief, culture or religion.
Vodafone is also taking significant steps to reduce our impact
on our planet by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by
2025 and becoming net zero by 2040, purchasing 100% of our
electricity from renewable sources in Europe and across our entire operations by
2025 and reusing, reselling or recycling 100% of our redundant
network equipment.
For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com, follow us
on Twitter at @VodafoneGroup or connect with us on LinkedIn at
www.linkedin.com/company/vodafone.
About WIOCC
WIOCC is building Africa's
first, truly hyper-scale network infrastructure. With the ability
to efficiently deliver 100Gbps capacity and an extensive investment
programme to develop our pan-African solution even further, WIOCC
is the natural partner for OTTs, content providers, telecom
operators, and ISPs looking to take advantage of Africa's opportunities. The company utilises
more than 55,000km of terrestrial fibre and in excess of 75,000km
of submarine cable assets to offer affordable, reliable, managed
connectivity to over 550 locations across 30 African countries.
WIOCC's international reach extends to key commercial centres in
Europe, Asia, and North
America, providing a one-stop shop for fully-scalable
international connectivity into, within, and out of Africa. Operating exclusively as a wholesaler,
the company's focus is on putting you, our client, first. Building
and maintaining strong, long-term relationships means WIOCC can
develop bespoke solutions to meet your current requirements, with
the flexibility to match future demands for growth and extra
resilience and geographical expansion. You will find that only
WIOCC has the depth of experience, local expertise, capacity,
flexibility, and scalability to take you where you want to be. For
more information, please visit http://wiocc.net/.
About Alcatel Submarine Networks
Alcatel Submarine Networks, part of Nokia, leads the industry in
terms of transmission capacity and installed base with more than
650,000 km of optical submarine systems deployed worldwide, enough
to circumnavigate the globe 15 times. From traditional Telecom
applications to Content and "Over The Top" Service Provider
infrastructures, as well as to offshore Oil and Gas applications,
ASN provides all elements of a turnkey global undersea transmission
systems, tailored to individual customer's needs. An extensive
Services porLolio completes its comprehensive offering for the
submarine business, including project management, installation and
commissioning, along with marine and maintenance operations
performed by ASN's fully owned fleet of cable ships. For more
information, please visit https://web.asn.com/en/.
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