Meta’s Africa2 undersea cable project, which was meant to connect African coastal states to Europe and Asia, is facing a major roadblock due to the ongoing U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict. According to Bloomberg, Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), the company contracted to lay the fiber-optic cables for the project, declared force majeure, saying that it can no longer safely operate in the Persian Gulf.
While Meta announced the completion of the core of the project, it’s still working on the Pearls section of the network, which was intended to connect Persian Gulf states, including Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Oman, as well as Pakistan and India, to the rest of Africa and several European countries. The publication says that the bulk of the undersea cable has already been laid but is yet to be connected to the onshore landing stations.
