Once live, the DARE1 cable, formed of a consortium made up of Telkom Kenya, Somtel and Djibouti Telecom, will offer a strategic alternative in traffic routing as well as dealing with increased capacity to East Africa.
“A decade after the landing of the first sub-marine cable in Kenya, DARE 1 not only brings a unique investment opportunity to the country but unrivalled redundant international connection on newer technology, as we seek to strengthen our value proposition to our customers.”
“In addition, as a Telco, we play a strategic role in the development of critical infrastructure to support the advancement of Kenya and the region into digital economies,” Kebaso Mokogi (pictured), managing director of carrier services division at Telkom Kenya.
Consisting of 3-fibre pairs and a capacity of 36Tbps each, the express route connects Djibouti to Mombasa and Somalia to Kenya.
In addition, the system is set to bolster Mombasa’s position as a colocation hub and gateway into East Africa due to its ability to more data quickly and securely via a connectivity to other data centres. This combined with the growing consumer demand for connectivity and data will create opportunities for CDN and OTTs providers in the country.
“We believe that this investment will catalyse the advent of many more cables, especially to businesses looking to commoditise data in Kenya,” said Mohamed Ahmed, director of international business at Djibouti Telecom.
“As technology gets more sophisticated, we are constantly looking at less costly and more efficient alternatives and this is a good example of what cooperation can do.”
In December, DARE1 completed all manufacturing aspects for the system, with the loading of the cable onto the marine vessel SubCom Durable having commenced on November 13, 2019.
