The fifth submarine cable, the Djibouti Africa Region Express 1 (DARE 1), has landed in Mombasa to bolster connectivity capacity within East Africa.

The US$86-million cable, developed by Djibouti Telecom, Somtel and SubCom, features a 3-fibre pair offering 36Tb each and will offer redundancy to international internet traffic. It will be accessed via an express route from Djibouti to Mombasa, as well as another terminating into Somalia and then Kenya.

Telkom Kenya, the landing partner for the DARE 1 cable, hopes that the new infrastructure will strengthen its position in the local telecommunications market.

“A decade after the landing of the first submarine cable in Kenya, DARE 1 not only brings a unique investment opportunity to the country but unrivaled redundant international connection on newer technology, as we seek to strengthen our value proposition to our customers,” said Kebaso Mokogi, Managing Director, Carrier Services Division at Telkom Kenya .

Telkom Kenya owns a 23% stake in TEAMS cable, 10% in LION2 and 2.6% in the East Africa Submarine System Cable.

It also manages the country’s internal fibre optic cable network, the National Optic Fibre Backbone.

Mohamed Ahmed, Director of International Business at Djibouti Telecom, said: “We believe that this investment will catalyse the advent of many more cables, especially to businesses looking to commoditise data in Kenya. 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.”

Research into countries with the fastest internet speeds, released by Cable.co.uk in July 2019, ranked Kenya in third place after Mauritius and South Africa.

A blog post by digital marketing professional Moses Kemibaro reads: “The arrival of DARE1 is extremely important as the growth of the regional digital economy continues to escalate. The extension of mobile and fibre networks to every corner of the region means that we are more connected than ever before with smartphones and mobile apps being key to driving digital content consumption, and, creation.”