Houthi attacks disrupt google and meta red sea cable projects

Political tensions and security threats in the Red Sea region are affecting plans by companies such as Google and Meta to expand their undersea cable networks.

According to Bloomberg, Meta’s project, 2Africa cable – a 45,000 km undersea cable system planned since 2020 to loop around the African continent– has yet to complete the sections passing through the Red Sea, five years on.

A Meta spokesperson said the southern part of the Red Sea has not been built due to “a combination of operational factors, regulatory concerns and geopolitical risks.”

Meanwhile, a Google spokesperson confirmed that the Blue Raman cable project in the Red Sea has stalled, without providing further details.

Other undersea cables in the Red Sea, including “India-Europe Express” and “Africa 1,” are also not yet in service.

Undersea fibre-optic cables remain the fastest and most widely used method for transmitting internet data between continents.