The 2Africa submarine cable, the largest undersea internet network ever attempted, faces the realities of maritime conflict. Construction of the 45,000-kilometre system in the Persian Gulf has stalled because military activity has made it unsafe for installation vessels to continue operating.
The disruption affects the Pearls section of the line, which aims to connect landing bases across Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Pakistan, India and Saudi Arabia. Most of the fiber is already on the ocean floor. All that remains is the final stage. Connect the cable to the coastal landing point and activate the route.
For most Internet users, the infrastructure that carries global data traffic remains largely invisible. It becomes visible only if something blocks it. 2 The suspension of African submarine cable construction provides valuable perspective into how much its physical network may be at risk.
A network designed to encircle Africa
The 2Africa submarine cable is designed as a 45,000-kilometre ring connecting parts of Africa, Europe and the Middle East via dozens of coastal landing stations. Once completed, this network will form the largest subsea fiber system ever deployed.
Submarine cable projects receive little public attention during construction. Once traffic begins passing through the network, the effects will be felt gradually. Adding capacity tends to reduce wholesale bandwidth costs and give internet providers more choice when routing data between continents.
Across Africa, the cable is expected to deepen connectivity between coastal landing stations and inland digital markets. As cloud infrastructure grows and streaming services consume more bandwidth, these high-capacity routes will become central to how domestic networks handle international traffic.
Once completed, the ring will strengthen the links between Africa’s Internet exchanges and Europe and Asia. However, one of the unfinished segments currently lies in a precarious maritime corridor.
Cable ships cannot operate within active maritime conflict
Subsea fiber installations require a limited set of operating conditions.
The cable ship moves slowly along a predetermined route, releasing fibers from large tanks on board. In areas exposed to fishing and shipping activities, mechanical plows protect cables by burying them in the ocean floor. Engineers will continuously track the topography and ocean currents of the ocean floor during installation.
Military activities pose risks that cannot be absorbed by construction projects.
Alcatel Submarine Networks, the contractor responsible for laying part of the cable, issued a force majeure notice to its consortium partners following the deterioration of the security situation in the Persian Gulf. This declaration effectively suspends any contractual obligations associated with the installation schedule.
One of the company’s cable-laying vessels, the Ile de Batz, is currently anchored near Dammam, Saudi Arabia, after it ceased operations.
The installation vessel operates under strict safety protocols. It cannot remain on route in areas where missile launches, naval patrols, and air operations intersect with construction zones.
Infrastructure construction stops long before civilian vessels are exposed to that level of risk.
War leaves technical uncertainty below the waterline
Even if hostilities ease, a return to normal operations could take time.
A missile was intercepted over the Persian Gulf and fell into the surrounding waters. Some may remain unexploded on the ocean floor. Subsea infrastructure engineers deal with such hazards with great care.
Survey vessels may need to remap parts of the route before cable work can resume. If unexploded ordnance or debris is present, cable routing may need to be removed or adjusted before proceeding with the installation.
Under normal circumstances, seafloor surveys are conducted years before deployment begins. Engineers use these maps to avoid geological hazards and maintain stable burial depths for fiber lines.
Conflict undermines that certainty. The seabed itself will be an area that will have to be re-evaluated before construction can proceed again.
Two global cable corridors now under pressure
The Persian Gulf turmoil follows previous problems along another key route.
Construction of part of the 2Africa submarine cable through the Red Sea was halted several months ago following attacks on commercial ships and undersea infrastructure linked to Houthi forces. An incident reported in early 2025 damaged several existing cables in that corridor.
Repairs required months of coordination as cable ships could not safely access the affected routes.
Together, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf form two of the narrowest corridors in the world’s undersea network, connecting Europe, Africa, and Asia. When instability affects both paths, redundancy in the system begins to narrow.
Traffic continues to move via other cable and terrestrial routes across the Arabian Peninsula. These alternatives often have lower capacity and longer transmission paths.
Connectivity is maintained. Efficiency decreases.
Infrastructure supporting the Internet
More than 95% of the world’s internet traffic travels over submarine cables. Although satellites support certain communications services, the majority of digital data flows through fiber links located under the ocean.
More than 500 cable systems form the backbone of its global network. Most follow routes shaped by geography and trade as well as technology. These cluster near coastal hubs, where international bandwidth enters national communications systems.
This architecture works well during stable periods.
Conflicts along major maritime routes reveal the dependence of underlying networks on physical geography.
Although digital services appear to be separated from the territory, the cables carrying those services remain connected to specific bodies of water or coastlines.
Technology companies begin rethinking route geography
2Africa The disruption that has affected submarine cables reflects a broader reassessment of the entire submarine infrastructure industry.
Technology companies and telecommunications consortiums have begun exploring cable routes that bypass traditional chokepoints in the Middle East. One proposed system, known as Project Waterworth, would link the United States, India, South Africa, and Brazil via a long sea route across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
Long distance routes require more equipment and a larger capital investment. It also extends the construction schedule.
But avoiding unstable maritime corridors could justify such costs.
Other cable projects have experienced similar delays. Development of the Sea-Me-We 6 system has been delayed amid the same regional tensions, while another cable initiative overseen by Ooredoo has been suspended in the current security environment.
Infrastructure planners are increasingly taking geopolitical changes into account when designing routes.
Bandwidth expansion in Africa continues despite pause
The cancellation of construction does not erase the long-term role of the 2Africa submarine cable.
Demand for international bandwidth across Africa continues to grow as mobile internet usage expands and digital services become more deeply embedded in everyday economic activities. New data centers are emerging in cities such as Nairobi, Lagos, and Johannesburg, increasing the need for stable, high-capacity connections to global networks.
Submarine cables determine how efficiently those connections operate. As additional systems are brought into service, they often increase competition in the wholesale bandwidth market and improve network resiliency.
Those changes appear gradually.
For now, the unfinished stretch of the Persian Gulf serves as a reminder that even the most ambitious digital infrastructure still relies on conditions far beyond the control of engineers and investors.
Combining the physical internet and political geography
2Africa The story of submarine cables reveals a simple but often overlooked reality.
The Internet is not weightless.
That infrastructure includes fiber strands laid on the ocean floor, landing stations built along exposed coastlines, and installation vessels navigating busy maritime corridors. These elements sit directly within the same geopolitical context that shapes sea routes, naval deployments, and regional conflicts.
For decades, the submarine cable industry operated under the assumption that commercial infrastructure would remain largely insulated from military escalation.
Recent turmoil calls that assumption into question.
The cable remains on the ocean floor. The power that determines when it can be completed is above the waterline.
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