Meta's Africa2 undersea cable project, which was meant to connect African coastal states to Europe and Asia, is facing a major roadblock due to the ongoing U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict. Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), the company contracted to lay the fiber-optic cables for the project, declared force majeure, saying that it can no longer safely operate in the Persian Gulf.
The 45,000-kilometre cable represents one of the world's most ambitious digital infrastructure projects. The Pearls section of the network was intended to connect Persian Gulf states, including Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Oman, as well as Pakistan and India, to the rest of Africa and several European countries. But the work remains incomplete. The bulk of the undersea cable has already been laid but is yet to be connected to the onshore landing stations.
This is not the first setback. Late last year, the project's Red Sea section was delayed due to Houthi strikes in the area, alongside permitting issues. Now the project faces a second geopolitical obstacle, and the consequences reveal something essential about how the modern internet actually works. Over 95 per cent of global data traffic moves through submarine cables, yet the physical infrastructure carrying that data remains exposed to the vagaries of regional conflict.
The practical constraints are immediate. Cable ships are not going to operate in areas where there is active military operations happening. It's too risky. Because conflicts increase the danger to life and property, there are fewer operators willing to operate in such theaters, and those that do often charge a heavy premium to account for the higher risk and more expensive insurance costs. Installation requires specialised vessels and stable conditions. Neither exists in the Persian Gulf today.
The bottleneck extends beyond the 2Africa project itself. Work has reportedly stopped on the Sea-Me-We 6 cable, a project backed by a consortium including French telecom company Orange. Another project known as FIG, led by Qatari telecom firm Ooredoo, has also been paused. Geopolitical volatility is reshaping how the entire industry plans new routes.
Meta has acknowledged the strategic vulnerability. Meta is also planning another global cable project known as Project Waterworth, which will connect the United States, India, South Africa and Brazil while bypassing the Middle East. However, that project is still years away from completion. The new route sacrifices efficiency for stability; longer paths require more equipment and capital, but they avoid traditional chokepoints.
For now, data can still flow through alternative routes. Internet traffic can still be redirected through other cables and land-based networks across Oman and Saudi Arabia. However, such rerouting could slow down internet speeds in some areas. Redundancy in the system shrinks when both the Red Sea and Persian Gulf face simultaneous disruption.
Even after military tensions ease, repair work faces extraordinary complexity. Unexploded missiles and other weapons that have fallen into the Persian Gulf could pose risks for engineers installing cables on the seabed. Before work can continue safely, the seabed will need to be carefully surveyed to remove potential hazards.
The 2Africa delays carry broader implications for infrastructure investment in the region. Tech companies spent years betting on the Gulf as a strategic hub for artificial intelligence and cloud computing. But the physical cables connecting those data centres to Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia pass through two narrow passages that are now effectively closed. The geopolitical gamble has caught up with the commercial one.