Fireside Chat: Novel Subsea Cable Strategies to Spur Digital Access and Unite the Continent

Hyperscale cloud and content providers are fuelling demand and funding submarine cable systems globally. However, disparity between North and South African international connections remains: reports show that sub-Saharan Africa’s connections to Europe are at approximately 60% of total potential capacity, compared to North Africa’s connectivity (close to 100%). This panel will consider:

• Which regions are seeing increasing capacity demand?

• What opportunities will extensions to 2Africa/Equiano bring?

• Which countries may emerge as subsea competitors to the likes of Egypt and Djibouti?

• Connecting subsea and terrestrial fibre - is there a looming issue of surplus capacity?

• How will the shift in cable ownership models impact the market?