Africa to enjoy faster internet as Facebook set to build $1bn sub-sea cable
- Facebook Inc is set to build a giant sea cable which will help bring more reliable and faster internet to Africa
- The social media giant is partnering with telecom carriers in Africa and China to build the cable which is set to be finished by 2024
- The project tagged 2Africa will cover 37,000-kilometres and connect Europe to the Middle East and 16 African countries
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Africa is set to start enjoying better and faster and internet as social media giant Facebook Inc and some of the world's largest telecom carriers including China Mobile Ltd. are collaborating to build a giant sub-sea cable.
Bloomberg reports that the cable will help bring more reliable and faster internet across the African continent.
Information available shows that the project which is tagged 2Africa will cost about $1 billion.
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The undersea long cable which will cover 37,000-kilometre will connect Europe to the Middle East and 16 African countries.
2Africa is expected to come into operation by 2024 and will deliver more than the combined capacity of all sub-sea cables serving Africa.
In January 2020, many countries in sub-Saharan Africa experienced slow internet service after two undersea cables were damaged.
Facebook is also partnering with two other giant wireless carriers in Africa in the new project. When finished, the 2Africa cable will be one of the longest in the world.
Google had announced its own sub-sea cable connecting Europe to Africa in 2019, using a route down the west coast.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) cleared the air over the viral rumours that Nigeria's telecoms industry would switch to Fifth-Generation (5G) network on Tuesday, May 12.
Buhari approves a waiver of import duties for medical equipment and supplies The NCC through a statement by its spokesman Henry Nkemmadu, on Monday, May 11, said rumours were false.
In the statement, the commission stated that there was no deployment of 5G in Nigeria at the moment.
The NCC had in 2019 approved a trial test for 5G for a period of three months. The trial has been concluded and installation decommissioned. The NCC's executive vice-chairman, Umar Danbata, in the statement, said the trial, among others, was to study and observe any health or security challenges the 5G network might present.
“Relevant stakeholders, including members of the security agencies, were invited to participate during the trial,” he said.
The NCC added that there is no way mobile network operators can switch to 5G when they don't have license for it. “NCC has not issued any licence for 5G in Nigeria and therefore, the mobile network operators (MNOs) cannot switch on such technology," the statement added.
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