Lagos, Dec. 4, 2023: The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Sunday says it would show support to law-abiding investors like Meta on its ongoing efforts to land 2Africa Cable in Nigeria.
According to a statement signed by Mr Reuben Muoka, Director, Public Affairs, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr Aminu Maida said this when he received a delegation from Meta in Abuja.
The statement said the delegation was led by Meta’s Vice President for Africa, the Middle-East and Turkey, Kojo Boakye.
Maida said that Meta had responded positively to Nigeria’s desire for investments, hence promoting the agenda of government to achieve a robust digital economy.
He said NCC’s regulatory support to all investors, including operators in Nigeria, would be predicated on playing by the rules and regulations guiding the sector.
Maida explained that the commission placed a lot of premium on compliance to industry laws and regulations, as such would engender a level-playing field for all licensees and stakeholders in the industry for sustaining a healthy competition.
Also, Meta’s Vice President for Africa, the Middle-East and Turkey, Kojo Boakye who’s purpose for the visit was to congratulate Maida on his appointment, said Meta would like to intimate him regarding the ongoing efforts to land 2Africa Cable in Nigeria.
At 45,000 kilometres long, Boakye said the 2Africa submarine cable would be one of the world’s largest subsea cable projects and will interconnect Europe (eastward via Egypt), Asia (via Saudi Arabia), and Africa.
He noted that the system would go live in 2023, delivering more than the total combined capacity of all subsea cables currently serving Africa, with a design capacity of up to 180 terabytes per second (Tbps).
Boakye stated that 2Africa would deliver the much-needed Internet capacity and reliability across large parts of Africa.
He said it would also supplement the fast-growing capacity demand in the Middle East and underpin further growth of 4G, 5G and fixed broadband access for billions of people, especially in Nigeria.
He urged NCC to support in sailing through all necessary legal and regulatory hurdles in landing the submarine cable to complement existing backbone infrastructure in Nigeria.
Boakye also said Meta, through a consortium, plans to land 2Africa cable simultaneously in Lagos and Akwa-Ibom States in order to ensure that those not yet connected were connected.
