Facebook, together with regional partners, announced the laying of a new segment of the 2Africa Pearls submarine cable.
2Africa is an underwater construction projectcable system, funded by Facebook and several telecom operators. When completed, it will be the longest submarine cable system ever deployed. The social network announced that the consortium of companies behind the initiative has decided to add a new segment to the structure called 2Africa Pearls, which will connect Africa, Europe and Asia.
When Facebook first announced the project,it was planned that 2Africa would lay 37 thousand km of cables along the ocean floor. Last month, the company announced that the consortium was expanding the system's coverage to four more branches in the Seychelles, Comoros, Angola and southeastern Nigeria.
With the help of 2Africa, Facebook planned to increasenumber of connections up to 1.2 billion people. With the addition of Pearls, the system will connect an additional 1.8 billion people. In total, the social network project will host the Internet for 3 billion people - this is about 36% of the world's population. Thus, the Pearls segment cable system will connect 33 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe (the map above shows a complete list of countries). Overall, 2Africa will increase the quality of communications in Africa and connect the continent with the rest of the world, Facebook said.
Read also
Astronomers accidentally find two galaxies at the edge of space and time
People first descended to the bottom of the "Hell's Well": what did they find there
Geneticists have found remains that will help scientists "resurrect" dinosaurs