DARE1 submarine Cable has been ready for service since February

Since February this year, the DARE1 “Djibouti, Somalia and Kenya” submarine cable has been active. The 4,900 km long submarine cable has been worked on for more than 5 years and is equipped with the latest generation of optical fiber.

The consortium behind the project has brought together Djibouti Telecom, Somtel, Hormuud Telecom and Telkom Kenya. They have invested a total amount of over 81 million US Dollars.

This cable is a new model of partnership and economic integration between regional telecom operators and provides a new direct highway between Bosaso (Puntland), Mogadishu (capital of Somalia) to Mombasa (Kenya).

“Under the leadership of our President SE. Ismaël Omar Guelleh, this is a new step in our government’s strategy to make Djibouti a hub for international cable systems ”, declared the Minister of Communication, Posts and Telecommunications, SE. Radwan Abdillahi Bahdon . The Minister added that the landing and hosting of more than 8 cables in Djibouti has given the country the precious distinction of being the most connected country and a technological center for sub-Saharan Africa.

DARE1 is a new low-latency cable system aimed at bringing content closer to end-users in Africa, providing the region with much-needed internet capacity and access to global cloud computing services. The cable has a capacity of 36 Terabits and will connect East Africa and beyond with data centers and content providers around the world. It is the largest cable ever built in the region in terms of capacity. 

The GAFAMs, the web giants, are installing more and more servers in Africa, because they want to get closer to user traffic. A large part of the services which were previously hosted in Europe or the USA will now be available in Djibouti. A choice that improves the speed of access to information.

In a statement Djibouti Telecom Director General, Mr. Mohamed Assoweh Bouh said “We are very pleased that the DARE-1 project was completed on time despite the challenges and global restrictions caused by Covid-19. We fully understand the importance of bringing increased connectivity to East Africa”.

Djibouti Telecom

Djibouti Telecom SA is Djibouti’s main telecommunications company, providing landline, mobile and Internet services. The company is headquartered in Djibouti City, Djibouti. 

Djibouti Telecom was founded in 1999 and has since established itself as a regional hub responsible for providing a comprehensive portfolio of voice, data / IP and capacity services over state-of-the-art network infrastructure that spans East Africa and southern, Middle East and Europe.

Djibouti Telecom is today the main strategic center for international telecommunications services in East Africa and hosts eight international cables.