• Djibouti Telecom to extend DARE1 cable to southern Africa

• Safaricom plans $23M “Daraja” cable linking Oman to Kenya

• New projects aim to boost East Africa’s internet redundancy
  

Djibouti Telecom announced this week its plan to extend its Africa Regional Express 1 (DARE1) fiber-optic cable to new countries along the continent's eastern coast. The initiative follows a series of recent outages that have weakened regional connectivity and coincides with projects by Kenyan operator Safaricom, which is preparing its own international infrastructure with support from U.S. technology company Meta.

The DARE1 cable, operational since 2020, currently connects Djibouti, Kenya, and Somalia over a distance of roughly 4,800 km. An extension of 3,500 km is planned to integrate Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, and South Africa, with construction scheduled between 2026 and 2028.

Safaricom, for its part, applied for a license from the Communications Authority of Kenya in January to deploy its own submarine cables. The project, named "Daraja," is a 4,108 km infrastructure estimated to cost $23 million and will connect Oman and Mombasa. It is expected to be operational by 2026.

East Africa has about a dozen submarine cables, including EASSy, SEACOM, PEACE, TEAMS, and Africa-1. These infrastructures remain vulnerable to incidents that cause frequent network disruptions. On March 4, 2025, the PEACE cable was severed in the Red Sea. A few months earlier, in May 2024, the EASSy and SEACOM cables were also damaged before being repaired three weeks later. These disruptions affected millions of users in Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Burundi, Rwanda, Madagascar, the Comoros, Uganda, Somalia, and Kenya.

Once operational, the new cables will improve network redundancy in East Africa by creating alternative routes for internet traffic. In the event of an outage on an existing cable, traffic can be rerouted automatically, reducing interruptions for both individuals and businesses. The DARE1 extension will link more countries in the region, while Safaricom's "Daraja" cable will create a direct connection to Oman, reducing dependence on existing cables and improving network stability.

Isaac K. Kassouwi