Saudi Arabia-based telco stc revealed on Sunday that the 2Africa Pearls cable system has landed in Bahrain, next to Seef District, which it says will reinforce the country as a significant ICT hub in the MENA region.
The 2Africa Pearls system spans 45,000 km across Asia, Africa, and Europe with 46 cable landing stations in 33 countries and a designed capacity of 180 Tbps. According to stc, the cable was officially connected to Bahrain last month.
Stc said 2Africa Pearls is the only cable in GCC capable of meeting the growing demands of data-heavy applications, including content streaming, cloud computing, and gaming in the region.
Stc also said 2Africa Pearls’ massive capacity and low latency will serve as a catalyst for innovation and growth in emerging technologies like 5G, AI, and IoT, and empower businesses with improved communication, access to global markets, and enhanced operational efficiency.
“[2Africa Pearls] will increase Bahrain's current connectivity capacity by 10x, further scalable to accommodate future growth,” said stc Bahrain CEO Khalid Al Osaimi in a statement.
2Africa Pearls is backed by a consortium that includes Bayobab, center3, China Mobile International, Meta, Orange, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone Group, and the West Indian Ocean Cable Company. Stc said it has invested US$205 million in the Bahrain landing point.
