Africa’s internet speeds are about to reach levels the continent has never experienced, mattduplessis reports.
Last week Facebook unveiled its 2Africa undersea cable project, which will circle the continent, connecting it to Europe and the Middle East. When it is operational in 2023 it will increase bandwidth to the continent by a massive 180 terabits per second.
Ibrahim Ba, the emerging markets lead at Facebook’s Network Investments says the 2Africa cable will triple existing capacity. “And in terms of resilience, the cable will in certain areas be buried 50% deeper than other cables, which will help ensure there aren’t too many cuts in connectivity.” According to Ba, that would not be in Facebook’s interest. “This cable is not about making Facebook products or videos faster than the competitors,” he told. “It is about improving the performance of our product. Obviously we want to improve the profile of our product, so yes we and our partners are providing that capacity — but it’s open access. Anyone else can access the capacity and the speed, and they can improve their own products and services.
Facebook has actively sought to avoid entrenching practices such as carrier monopolies, said Ba. “Every consortium member can land the cables and provide access to its data centre,” he said. “But those data centres will be regulated in a way they have to provide access to any operator on a fair and equitable basis. That will support competition, which is critically important to Facebook and also reflects how we do business on the continent.
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