Portugal considers 2Africa submarine cable “action of relevant public interest”

The project to install and tie an intercontinental submarine fiber optic telecommunications cable in the 2Africa system on Carcavelos beach, in Portugal, was recognized as an “action of relevant public interest” by the local government.

According to the informative note, it recognizes 2Africa as "action of relevant public interest” the project to install and tie an intercontinental fiber optic submarine telecommunications cable in the 2Africa system, on Carcavelos beach, in the union of parishes of Carcavelos, Cascais, “using for this purpose an area of ​​14.815 square meters integrated into the National Ecological Reserve".

This project is “conditioned on the implementation of the minimization measures contained in the project and compliance with the measures and opinions of the entities consulted and other applicable legal and regulatory standards“, the document reads.

The order is signed by several Portuguese Secretaries of State, such as Digitalization and Administrative Modernization, Mário Campolargo, Mar, José Maria Costa, Culture, Isabel Cordeiro, Nature and Forest Conservation, João Paulo Catarino, and Local Administration and Spatial Planning, Carlos Miguel.

The diploma takes into account the objective “of Portugal to join the global network of submarine fiber optic cables [which] is expressly included in the National Spatial Planning Policy Program (measure 4.8), in which it is recognized that, with its inclusion in this international telecommunications system, Portugal can gain competitiveness with its geostrategic position in the global fiber optic maritime highway network, adding value to the large amount of information data that will arrive from other countries and continents".

BUT: 2Africa will only start operating in the second quarter of 2024

According to the document, Vodafone Enterprise Spain (branch in Portugal) intends to install the submarine cable on Carcavelos beach, in the parish of União de Freguesias de Carcavelos e Parede, municipality of Cascais.

O 2Africa is the largest submarine cable system in the world, where he landed in Angola in August 2023, is expected to come into operation only this year and was designed for a data transmission capacity of up to 180 Tera bits per second.

According to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Unitel, Aguinaldo Jaime, speaking in the act that marked the landing of the cable on the edge of Cacuaco beach, by the Minister of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Communication, Mário Augusto da Silva Oliveira, this projected capacity will be greater than the total combined capacity of all submarine cables that currently serve Africa.

"We came to Cacuaco beach to witness the landing of the Submarine Cable “2ÁFRICA” in Angola, the cable that circumnavigates the coast of Africa and will interconnect several African countries, Europe and the Middle East, along its more than 45 thousand kilometers and will serve a region in which about 3 billion people live", said.

The 2Africa project is promoted by an international consortium of eight partners and is an international system of submarine telecommunications cables (open access and state-of-the-art) that will connect 33 countries.