Kenya expands digital infrastructure with new subsea cable projects

Kenya is expanding its digital infrastructure through two major submarine cable projects. Meta and Safaricom are developing the Daraja subsea cable, a 4,108-kilometer system linking Salalah, Oman, to Mombasa, Kenya. Targeted for service readiness in 2026, this project marks Safaricom’s first international cable under direct operational control.

Additionally, the LuLu Coastal Cable System was announced at ITW Africa 2026. Co-developed by INDOI Ltd., Blue Trade Investments Limited, ARISE IIP, AfriTrade Consulting Group, and Kingdom Bank, the system is designed to strengthen connectivity along Kenya’s 500km Indian Ocean coast. It will link five strategic landing points from Mombasa to Lamu, including Kilifi, Malindi, and the Vipingo Special Economic Zone. The LuLu system utilizes a dual-path architecture, combining a submarine cable with a parallel terrestrial pathway to ensure high resilience and redundancy. It features a design capacity of up to 60 Tbps per fibre pair and is intended for a 25-year operational life.