center3, a wholly owned subsidiary of stc Group, has selected Ciena’s solutions and technologies for its fibre pairs on the new submarine network 2Africa. The 2Africa submarine cable system, which lands in Saudi Arabia at Jeddah and Yanbu, provides high-bandwidth connectivity onward to three continents. With Ciena’s 800G technology, center3 can serve both regional and international digital needs with advanced communication, cloud, and data centre hosting services.
2Africa is an ‘Open Cable‘ owned by a consortium of global partners, including center3. Stretching over a distance of 45,000km, this submarine cable system has been deployed to connect 33 countries using 46 landing stations. It is expected to drive economic growth in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region.
“center3 is committed to achieve its vision of making the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia the main digital hub connecting the continents of Asia, Europe, and Africa, and to become a worldwide leader in the digital economy in line with Saudi Vision 2030. The 2Africa submarine cable is a significant step forward in realising this vision, placing the Kingdom at the heart of international data connectivity and solidifying its standing as a regional data centre hub in the MENA region,” says Fahad Alhajeri, CEO at center3.
“We chose Ciena for our new submarine network because of its proven technology, unparalleled track record in the submarine networking space, and long history of successful collaboration with stc Group,” Alhajeri adds.
Virginie Hollebecque, vice president of EMEA at Ciena, says “Given center3’s major investment in the 2Africa cable system, it is positioned to accelerate the growth of digitisation across three continents. It will play a key role in expanding and fast-tracking competitive digital services across a vast region of the world – and in creating thriving digital societies. With Ciena’s industry-leading GeoMesh Extreme, center3 will enable its hyperscaler and carrier customers to support the rapid growth of 5G, streaming, content, gaming, and other big data applications for several hundred million people and businesses.”
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