Bharti Airtel has landed the 2Africa Pearls subsea cable in India, strengthening the country’s international connectivity with Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Part of the larger 2Africa system, the cable stretches over 45,000 km and is set to become the world’s longest subsea network once fully deployed.

It has brought the 2Africa Pearls cable ashore at its Mumbai cable landing station, establishing a direct connection between India and Africa.

As the landing partner for the Indian segment, Airtel is integrating over 100 terabits per second (Tbps) of capacity into its network. This follows the recent deployment of the SEA-ME-WE-6 cable in Chennai and Mumbai, enhancing connectivity between India, Singapore, and France via Egypt.

The 2Africa initiative is led by a consortium of global telecom and technology companies, including Meta, Vodafone Group, centre3, China Mobile International, Orange, Telecom Egypt, and WIOCC. Alcatel Submarine Networks is managing its manufacturing and installation.

With investments in 34 subsea cable systems, Airtel operates a network spanning 400,000 route kilometres across 50 countries and five continents. The addition of 2Africa Pearls is expected to enhance data capacity and improve India’s access to global digital infrastructure.