Bharti says foundational connectivity infrastructure such as subsea cables are crucial in supporting the rising demand for high-speed data and digital services as India prepares to roll out 5G networks later this year.
Therefore, Airtel will partner with Meta and stc to extend 2Africa Pearls to India.
2Africa is the world’s longest subsea cable system and is expected to serve almost 3 billion people globally.
Airtel and Meta will extend the cable to the Indian company’s landing station in Mumbai and also pick up the dedicated capacity needed to strengthen its submarine network portfolio.
Vani Venkatesh, CEO of global business at Bharti Airtel said: “We, at Airtel, are delighted to deepen our partnership with Meta to serve India’s digitally connected economy by leveraging the technology and infrastructure strengths of both companies.
“With our contributions to the 2Africa cable and Open RAN, we are investing in crucial and progressive connectivity infrastructure which is needed to support the increasing demand for high-speed data in India.
“We look forward to working closely with Meta to deliver best-in-class digital experiences to our customers in India.”
As members of the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), both Airtel and Meta have advocated the use of Open RAN technology with a shared goal of increasing diversity, driving innovation and cost-efficiency in connectivity networks.
Airtel is currently conducting trials for 4G and 5G Open RAN solutions across several locations in India over the next few quarters.
