Bharti Airtel, one of India’s leading telecom operators, has successfully landed the 2Africa Pearls subsea cable in the country. Developed in collaboration with center3 and Meta, Airtel serves as the landing partner for this undersea cable in India.
2Africa Pearls is an extension of the larger 2Africa subsea cable system, which is set to become the world’s longest undersea internet cable. Covering a distance of over 45,000 kilometers, it aims to enhance connectivity between Asia, Africa, and Europe through the Middle East.
The initiative is backed by a consortium of global companies, including Bayobab, center3, China Mobile International, Meta, Orange, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone Group, and WIOCC. The production and installation of the cable are being managed by Alcatel Submarine Networks.
Expressing enthusiasm about the project, Sharat Sinha, Director and CEO of Airtel Business, stated, “Bringing the 2Africa Pearls cable to India strengthens our network resilience. We are actively diversifying our global network and recently landed the SEA-ME-WE-6 cable in Chennai and Mumbai. Our continued investments in subsea cable systems will ensure high uptime, reliability, and superior network quality for our customers.”
Airtel’s global network currently spans over 400,000 route kilometers and operates across 50 countries on five continents. The telecom giant has invested in 34 undersea cables worldwide, including major systems like 2Africa, Southeast Asia-Japan Cable 2, and Equiano.
Additionally, Airtel’s subsea infrastructure includes key networks such as the i2i cable system, Europe India Gateway, IMEWE, SEA-ME-WE-4, AAG, Unity, EASSy, Gulf Bridge International, and the Middle East North Africa Submarine Cable (MENA).
