The subsea cable Djibouti Africa Regional Express 1DARE1 will be completed by March 2020. The four companies that are developing the infrastructure, Djibouti Telecom, Somtel, Telkom Kenya and SubCom, said it has already landed at La Siesta Beach, in Djibouti and marine operations is underway.

Installation of landing stations in Bosaso (Somali Puntland), Mogadishu (Somalia) and Mombasa (Kenya) has also started. Provisional reception is expected to take place in June 2020.

The telecom system will boost connectivity in the East African region mainly in Kenya, Somalia, and Djibouti. According to Mohamed Assoweh Bouh, CEO of Djibouti Telecom, “with high capacity and low latency, the DARE1 system will provide an alternative route to East Africa and the Horn of Africa, reducing congestion between existing systems, promoting competition and providing the necessary capacity for a rapidly expanding region.”

With a transmission capacity of up to 30 Tbps, DARE1 is made up of two fiber pairs. In addition to the defined points of presence, the infrastructure will include an optional point of presence in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.