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Facebook In Talks to Circle Africa With Underwater Cable: WSJ

‘Simba’ is an attempt to slash bandwith costs and grow connections in African markets.

Facebook is in talks to develop a massive underwater fiber-optic cable that will circle the entire continent of Africa, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. The three-stage project, named “Simba” in an homage to The Lion King, is an attempt to drive down bandwidth costs and forge stronger ties to the African market. A spokesperson for the company would not confirm that the project existed, only telling the Journal that, “We look all over the world when we consider subsea cable routes.” It wouldn’t be the tech titan’s first foray into underwater cables—the Journal reports that there’s already cables in North America, Europe, and East Asia.