Telkom lands sixth submarine cable in Kenya

Telkom lands sixth submarine cable in Kenya
ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru, Telkom Kenya Chairman Eddy Njoroge, Immaculate Kassait, Telkom Kenya Mugo Kibati, ICT CAS Nadia Abdalla, PEACE High Representative Oliver Zheng and Former ICT Permanent Secretary and ICT Champion Prof. Bitange Ndemo during the launch of the Pakistan and East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE) submarine cable in Mombasa/COURTESY

NAIROBI, Kenya, March 29- Telkom and the PEACE Cable Company have successfully landed the sixth submarine cable in Mombasa worth Sh48.8billion.

Named the PEACE Cable, it is set to bring faster and more stable communication services connecting Africa, Europe, and Asia while connecting France to Pakistan via the Europe-Asia route, and Mombasa, Kenya, via an Indian Ocean route.

“The investment in submarine cables is of strategic importance to Telkom. We are proud to contribute to Kenya’s strategic evolution to become a digital economy, in line with the country’s Big 4 Agenda that relies on ICT to enhance processes, improve efficiencies, and boost consistency in service delivery to Kenyans,” said Telkom CEO, Mugo Kibati.

The PEACE Cable is preceded by the Djibouti Africa Regional Express 1 (DARE 1), SEACOM, The East African Marine System (TEAMS), the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy), and the Lower Indian Ocean NetWork II (LION II).

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

Notably, PEACE’s second phase will see the cable extend to Singapore and Southern Africa, boosting bandwidth and connectivity from its current African landing point in Mombasa, all the way to South Africa, consequently opening new markets to cable partners in East Africa and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).