Which big subsea cables landing in Africa are live, and which are still promises
Google's Equiano cable to South Africa has been launched and is carrying the promise of more capacity on the west coast. Meta's 2Africa core system was reported complete in November 2025, while Google's Umoja link to Australia still had no confirmed completion date when it was announced.
Key points
- Equiano, Portugal to South Africa, was launched after landing near Cape Town.
- Meta said the core 2Africa system was completed in November 2025.
- Umoja's land section was finished first; its Indian Ocean crossing had no confirmed completion date.
- A finished cable, a landed cable and a live service are three different things.
What happened
Subsea cables carry most of the internet traffic between continents. For years Africa had few of them, so one damaged cable could slow whole regions down. The new cables are meant to add both capacity and backup routes.
Announcements in this industry often arrive years before a cable carries traffic. This story labels each system by the strongest thing a source actually said about it: launched, completed, or still being built.
Claim by claim
Why this label: Reported at launch, after the cable landed at Melkbosstrand, near Cape Town, on 8 August.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: Meta's completion announcement was reported in November 2025, after nearly six years of work. Completion of the core system is not the same as every extension being live.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: This was reported as an expectation, in the future tense. We did not find a source confirming each named segment carrying commercial traffic.
On the ladder: the evidence so far sits low — early, single or social sources. We publish the claim as a claim, never as fact.
Why this label: The route and the 'first direct link' description are from Google's announcement, reported in May 2024.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: When announced, the land part was complete but the ocean crossing was underway with no confirmed timeline for completion. Google gave no date.
On the ladder: the evidence so far sits low — early, single or social sources. We publish the claim as a claim, never as fact.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- Equiano has been launched, with its length, route and design capacity reported.
- 2Africa's core construction was reported complete in November 2025.
- Umoja's land section was complete before its sea section, per Google via TechCrunch.
What we don't know yet
- Which individual 2Africa segments are carrying paying commercial traffic today, segment by segment.
- A confirmed completion date for Umoja's Indian Ocean crossing.
Why it matters
More cables mean faster, cheaper and more reliable internet - but only once they are live. Treating an announcement as a finished cable overstates how connected a country really is, and hides the outages that still happen when an older cable breaks.
Update history
No silent edits. Every change is written here, with its time.
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