Social Media giant, Facebook and some of the world’s largest telecommunications carriers, China Mobile Ltd. and MTN Group Ltd. are planning to expand undersea cable networks in Africa.
According to a statement by Facebook, the companies plan to add the Indian Ocean island countries of Seychelles and Comoros, Angola and a new connection to Nigeria.
The undersea cable sector is experiencing resurgence, with Facebook and Alphabet Inc.’s Google behind about 80% of recent investments in transatlantic links.
The tech giants are seeking to tap growing demand for fast-data transfers used for everything from streaming movies to social messaging and telemedicine.
During the 1990s dot-com boom, phone companies spent more than $20 billion laying fiber-optic lines under the oceans.
The project is part of Facebook’s long-held plans to lead the race to provide more reliable and faster internet in Africa, a continent of more than 1.2 billion people with an increasing uptake of smart phones.
The U.S. social-media giant first announced plans for a new undersea cable in May 2020.
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