India Just Got a Huge Internet Upgrade! Thanks to Airtel’s New Undersea Cable.

Bharti Airtel has landed the 2Africa Pearls subsea cable in India, strengthening the country’s global internet connectivity. This project is a joint effort with center3 and Meta, with Airtel serving as the landing partner. The 2Africa Pearls cable is a part of the larger 2Africa network, which, once completed, will be the longest undersea internet cable in the world. Covering around 45,000 km, it will link Asia, Africa, and Europe through the Middle East.

A group of major global companies, including Bayobab, center3, China Mobile International, Meta, Orange, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone Group, and WIOCC, is backing the project. Alcatel Submarine Networks is responsible for building and installing the cable.

Sharat Sinha, Director and CEO of Airtel Business, shared that bringing the 2Africa Pearls cable to India is an important step in boosting the company’s network strength. He highlighted Airtel’s recent efforts to expand its global network, including landing the SEA-ME-WE-6 cable in Chennai and Mumbai. He also mentioned that Airtel will keep investing in undersea cables to ensure better reliability and high-speed connectivity for its customers.

Airtel’s global network spans over 400,000 km across 50 countries and five continents. The company has already invested in 34 subsea cable systems, including key projects like the Southeast Asia-Japan Cable 2 and Equiano.

Apart from the newly landed 2Africa Pearls cable, Airtel is also a part of other major subsea systems, such as the i2i cable network, Europe India Gateway, IMEWE, SEA-ME-WE-4, AAG, Unity, EASSy, Gulf Bridge International, and the Middle East North Africa Submarine Cable (MENA).

With these efforts, Airtel aims to further strengthen India’s position in global digital connectivity while offering a faster and more reliable internet experience.