The completion of 2Africa marks a decisive moment for Africa’s digital transformation. The system, an open-access subsea cable, delivers unprecedented international capacity and redundancy, but its value depends on deliberate national and regional actions that convert raw bandwidth into jobs, services, and resilience.
This article explains what 2Africa brings, why Africa must do more than “land the cable,” and the practical steps governments, telcos, and businesses should prioritise to capture real economic value.
What 2Africa actually delivers
The 2Africa submarine cable system was declared complete and activated in late 2025. Stretching roughly 45,000 kilometres with landing points in more than 46 locations across 33 countries, the network was designed for up to 180 terabits per second (Tbps) of capacity, greater than the combined capacity of the older submarine cables that serve much of the continent.
Those technical facts establish 2Africa as a global backbone capable of supporting a new generation of cloud services, high-definition streaming, and enterprise networks.
Why capacity alone won’t produce transformation
High-capacity international links are a necessary but not sufficient condition for digital development. African countries have long been caught in a “transit economy” pattern: cables pass through or near the continent, but much of the revenue and application-level value (cloud hosting, large data processing, fintech clearing, content platforms) accrues offshore.
Unless the pipeline of international capacity is paired with local infrastructure, policy reforms, and skills development, 2Africa risks improving latency and redundancy without meaningfully increasing local digital value creation.
Four immediate priorities to capture value
1. Expand local data-centre and cloud capacity
Less than 1% of global data-centre capacity is hosted in Africa despite the continent’s large population and rising demand. Local and edge data centres reduce latency, keep revenue and data sovereignty on-continent, and enable workloads, from mobile financial services to AI inference, that must run close to users. Public–private partnerships and incentives for global cloud providers to co-locate infrastructure can accelerate capacity building and create a regional cloud ecosystem.
2. Build resilient domestic backhaul and last-mile networks
The subsea cable stops at landing stations; the value chain continues via terrestrial fibre, metro rings, and mobile broadband. Governments and operators must prioritise fibre backbone rollouts, municipal access points, and affordable fixed and wireless packages.
Closing the urban-rural access gap will increase the number of paying users and expand the market for SMEs that rely on reliable connectivity.
3. Reform regulation for open access and competition
2Africa was built on open-access principles that enable wholesale capacity resale and neutral landing station services.
To realise competition and lower retail prices, regulators must harmonise cross-border rules, remove anti-competitive barriers to interconnection, and promote infrastructure sharing. Clear, predictable data-protection and cross-border transfer rules will also encourage international cloud and content providers to host services locally.
4. Invest in digital skills and enterprise enablement
Connectivity is an enabler; human capital turns it into innovation. National strategies should scale vocational and tertiary programs in cloud engineering, cybersecurity, data science, and software development.
Equally important are targeted support schemes for SMEs, incubators, affordable cloud credits, and procurement frameworks, that let local companies build exportable digital services across fintech, agritech, healthtech, and creative industries.
Who must act and how
Realising the cable’s promise requires coordinated action across multiple actors. Telcos and landing-station operators must invest in neutral-host facilities and wholesale products. Governments should align fiscal incentives with long-term infrastructure goals (e.g., tax breaks for data-centre investment tied to local employment targets).
International cloud providers and system integrators can accelerate capacity by partnering with African carriers to deploy edge cloud nodes and managed services. Donors and development finance institutions should prioritise catalytic financing for backbone fibre and digital skills programs that market forces under-invest in.
Measurable economic outcomes to target
Independent modelling suggests 2Africa could add tens of billions of dollars to Africa’s GDP within a few years, through productivity gains, new digital services, and stronger exports of ICT. But the outcome depends on measurable reforms: increases in domestic data-centre capacity, reductions in wholesale and retail prices for broadband, and growth in digitally enabled SMEs and jobs. Governments should adopt metrics-based targets and publish progress to attract capital and maintain political focus.
Conclusion
2Africa enables Africa to access global internet capacity while providing the continent a unique chance to transform its position in international digital value systems. The cable requires specific policy decisions and dedicated resources for local development and partnership between government and private sectors to achieve successful operations. The continent can establish itself as a digital services and employment and innovation center once these components are implemented.
