Facebook, China Mobile, and MTN Group plan to expand an undersea cable network in Africa, adding the Seychelles, Comoros, Angola, and Nigeria, for 35 landings
- New destinations to include Seychelles, Comoros Islands — China Mobile, MTN Group, Nokia unit part of 2Africa project
Context & Ripple Effects
2Africa began as a Facebook, China Mobile and partner effort to bring more reliable, faster internet to Africa through a roughly $1 billion subsea cable plan. The new footprint turns that initial subsea investment into a broader regional network rather than a limited set of coastal connections.
The expansion matters alongside Facebook and Liquid’s plan for DRC fiber linked to 2Africa, which shows the consortium’s landing points being paired with inland infrastructure rather than treated as endpoints.
First-order effects
- Facebook, China Mobile, MTN Group and Nokia gain a larger 2Africa network design, with Seychelles, Comoros, Angola and Nigeria added to a total of 35 landings across 26 countries.
- Operators and users at the added landing markets get prospective direct access points to the consortium’s subsea network, while the partners take on the build-out across more jurisdictions.
Second-order effects
- Liquid’s planned DRC connection has a larger external network to feed into, making terrestrial fiber links more consequential for distributing capacity beyond 2Africa’s coastal landing points.
- MTN’s role in both subsea and later inland-fiber plans positions it to connect international capacity with regional routes, increasing pressure on rival African network operators to strengthen backhaul networks.
Third-order effects
- If 2Africa’s landing network and affiliated inland links are completed as planned, African connectivity investment will increasingly be organized around integrated subsea-to-terrestrial corridors rather than isolated cable landings.
- The consortium’s later extension toward the Middle East and India suggests the network model is evolving from Africa-focused access infrastructure into a wider interregional route.
The trend: Large connectivity consortia are pairing expansive subsea cable systems with terrestrial fiber links to turn landing points into regional network corridors.