Telkom lands new submarine fibre cable at Mombasa

Telkom Shop. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

Telkom Kenya and the Peace Cable Company have successfully landed a new submarine fibre optic network at Mombasa.

The cable will bring faster and more stable communication services connecting Africa, Europe and Asia.

It will connect France to Pakistan via the Europe-Asia route, and Mombasa via an Indian Ocean route, providing the most direct connectivity route from Asia and East Africa to Europe.

The 15,000km cable will give Kenya a strategic boost in more flexible digital connection options, including high-speeds of 200 gigabits per second per single wavelength with a total capacity of 192 terabits per second, as well as stable and secure data access possibilities.

“We are proud to contribute to Kenya’s strategic evolution to become a digital economy, in line with the country’s Big Four Agenda that relies on ICTs to enhance processes, improve efficiencies and boost consistency in service delivery to Kenyans,” said Telkom Chief Executive Mugo Kibati. 

He said the ultra-high capacity cable will assist Kenya and the region in meeting its current and future broadband capacity requirements, bolster redundancy, minimise transit time of the country’s connectivity to Asia and Europe, as well as assist carriers in providing affordable services to Kenyans.

The Peace Cable’s Chief Operating Officer Sun Xiaohua said the cable will bring more diversified digital connection options and provide high-speed, large-capacity and stable data access opportunities to Kenya in the future.

“We will spare no efforts with Peace to bring more business development to this region,” he said. 

The Peace Cable is the sixth submarine network to land in Kenya, preceded by the Djibouti Africa Regional Express 1, Seacom, The East African Marine System, the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System and the Lower Indian Ocean NetWork II.