Middle East conflict stalls Africa’s high speed internet

The promise of lightning-fast internet across Africa is hitting a geopolitical snag. The ongoing Middle East conflict has forced a halt to a critical segment of the 2Africa subsea cable project.

The pause affects a segment of the planned 45,000-kilometre fibre-optic cable, which is expected to become the world’s largest undersea internet system linking Africa with Europe and the Middle East, according to Bloomberg.

The disruption comes less than six months after Meta said another part of the project had already been delayed due to geopolitical tensions in the region.

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The 2Africa cable is being built by a consortium of companies, including Meta and Saudi Telecom Co.’s Center3. The group had planned to launch the Persian Gulf segment of the cable as early as this year.

That section will pass through landing stations in Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Pakistan, India and Saudi Arabia.

However, Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), the French state-owned company responsible for installing the cable, has stopped operations in the area because of security concerns.

People familiar with the situation said ASN has issued force majeure notices to customers, saying it cannot currently fulfil some of its cable contracts due to the conflict, Bloomberg report revealed.

The company’s cable-laying vessel, Ile De Batz, which had been operating in the Persian Gulf in recent months, is now stranded near Dammam in Saudi Arabia.

ASN referred questions to Meta, while Meta declined to comment on the situation.

A large portion of the cable has already been laid on the seabed, but has not yet been connected to several landing stations.

Subsea cables are critical to global communications. They carry more than 95 percent of international internet traffic, making them the fastest and most widely used method for transmitting data between continents.

When completed, the 2Africa system will connect countries along the entire African coastline with Europe and parts of the Middle East.

However, two sections remain unfinished, the “Pearls” segment in the Persian Gulf and another stretch in the Red Sea.

Just four months ago, Meta said it had halted work in the Red Sea after Houthi attacks on ships in the area and difficulties obtaining installation permits.

Alan Mauldin, an analyst at telecommunications research firm TeleGeography, said several cables damaged by Houthi strikes in early 2025 were repaired only in recent months.

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The situation highlights how vulnerable global internet infrastructure can be during military conflicts.

“Cable ships are not going to operate in areas where active military operations is happening. It’s too risky,” Mauldin said.

Experts say the war has forced technology companies to rethink how they build and protect critical internet infrastructure.

For decades, the Red Sea has been one of the most direct and cost-effective routes for linking Europe with Asia and Africa through submarine cables.

But security threats in the region have pushed companies to look for alternative routes.

“Everyone has been trying to find alternate routes,” said Hasnain Ali, a subsea cable consultant.

Before the recent escalation of tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, the Persian Gulf had become a preferred alternative route for many cable projects.

Meta is also planning another global cable project known as Project Waterworth, which will connect the United States, India, South Africa and Brazil while bypassing the Middle East. However, that project is still years away from completion.

The conflict has also affected other submarine cable projects in the Gulf.

Work has reportedly stopped on the Sea-Me-We 6 cable, a project backed by a consortium including French telecom company Orange. Another project known as FIG, led by Qatari telecom firm Ooredoo, has also been paused.

Industry experts say the conflict could also make it difficult to repair existing cables already operating in the region.

Bertrand Clesca, a submarine consultant at Pioneer Consulting, said cables could be damaged if ships hit by missiles drop anchors on the seabed, as happened in the Red Sea last year.

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If that happens, repairs could take a long time because repair ships cannot safely enter active conflict zones.

For now, internet traffic can still be redirected through other cables and land-based networks across Oman and Saudi Arabia, Mauldin said. However, such rerouting could slow down internet speeds in some areas.

Even after the conflict ends, new challenges may remain.

Ali said unexploded missiles and other weapons that have fallen into the Persian Gulf could pose risks for engineers installing cables on the seabed.

Before work can continue safely, he said the seabed will need to be carefully surveyed to remove potential hazards.