In a ceremony presided over by the Minister for Infrastructure, João Galamba, the contract for the private use of national maritime space for the installation and operation of the 2Africa submarine telecommunications cable was signed yesterday.

The contract was signed between the DGRM and Vodafone, including the Regional Directorate for the Sea of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, with the aim of granting the private use of national maritime space, in an area one meter wide and approximately 2,000 km long, corresponding to the route of the cable in the subdivisions of the Mainland, the Extended Continental Shelf and Madeira.

With this contract, Portugal joins the 2Africa project, promoted by an international consortium of eight partners, under the coordination of Vodafone, allowing the Portuguese economy to be interconnected to one of the world's main data transmission backbones. This project consists of a submarine cable system linking Europe and surrounding the entire African continent, approximately 45,000 km long, connecting a total of 33 countries, including 5 in Europe, 19 in Africa, 7 in the Middle East and 2 in Asia.

This submarine cable system will be fully operational by 2024, allowing ultra-broadband access to a large part of the globe, with a total capacity of 180 Tbps.