Title: Metas massive undersea cable project has been put on hold by regional hostilities 2Africa Pearls project suffers another setback

Date:
Fri, 13 Mar 2026 19:20:00 +0000

Description:
The conflict in the Middle East has forced Meta's 2Africa Red Sea and
'Pearls' sections to go on hold.

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now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Hostilities in the Middle East have delayed a Meta cable laying project Connectivity in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf has been put on hold This isn't the first time conflict in the region has delayed the project Metas undersea cable project designed to provide affordable, high-speed internet to Africa, Europe, and Asia has been put on hold due to hostilities in the Middle East,
a Bloomberg report says, citing people familiar with the matter.

Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), who has been contracted to lay cables on behalf of Metas 2Africa project , can no longer continue operating safely in the region. ASN sent a force majeure to customers, stating that it was unable to continue work safely in the Red Sea. Article continues below You may like Google's 'America-India Connect' is filling in the last gaps for a truly global subsea cable network Outages, cable cuts, power failures, and more - 2025 was a rough year for the internet; these were its toughest moments 'Near-complete shutdown' Iranians face third day of internet blackout as connectivity hits 1% The Red Sea bottleneck This isnt the first setback the project has faced. The Red Sea section has been delayed multiple times since the project began five years ago. Cable laying and cable repairs in the Red Sea were forced to halt on multiple occasions due to military activity attributed to the Iran-backed Houthis - most recently in November 2025.

Much of the projects 45,000-kilometer (28,000 mile) subsea cable has already been laid, however the Persian Gulf section, referred to as Pearls, and a southern Red Sea segment are yet to be completed. (Image credit: Meta) Over 95% of global internet traffic travels via undersea cables, and when completed, the 2Africa undersea cabling project will be the biggest system of its kind. The project is set to bring internet connectivity to 3 billion people across Africa, Europe, and Asia.

If and when the US and Israeli conflict with Iran ends, the project will likely face further delays as new contracts are acquired, and new ground surveys conducted in order to safely lay cable in areas where unexploded ordnance may have fallen. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features
and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Areas that have been historically underserved by high-speed internet will likely see further delays in their connectivity. Areas specifically in the
Red Sea may also suffer economic losses. The core 2Africa project is expected to contribute $36.9 billion to Africas GDP within the first two to three
years of operation.

The frequent delays to cable laying projects in the Red Sea have forced multiple projects to consider more expensive and construction intensive overland routes that bypass the Red Sea, including routes across Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The best cloud storage for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/title-metas-massive-undersea-cable-project-has-b een-put-on-hold-by-regional-hostilities-2africa-pearls-project-suffers-another -setback


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