Cable loading commenced on November 13, 2019; cable is on track for RFPA in June 2020
Djibouti City, DJIBOUTI, Mogadishu, SOMALIA, Nairobi, KENYA, and Eatontown, NJ, USA – December 4, 2019 – Djibouti Telecom, Somtel, Telkom Kenya and SubCom today announced that all manufacturing aspects for the Djibouti Africa Regional Express 1 (DARE1) submarine cable system are complete.
The system will have four landing stations to help expand connectivity in Eastern Africa: Djibouti (Djibouti), Bosaso (Somalia), Mogadishu (Somalia) and Mombasa (Kenya). With a finalised cable length of 4,854 km, DARE1 will include three branching units and 41 dual-stage repeaters to maximise its capacity. The loading of the cable onto the marine vessel SubCom Durable commenced on November 13, 2019 and is forecasted to be complete in December 2019. The project is progressing on schedule and the system is on track to be ready for commercial traffic in June 2020.
The four cable landing points are located in port cities along the eastern coast of Africa and will enable enhanced communication and connection with other cable systems around the globe. In addition to the dual-stage repeaters included on all branches of the system, the Bosaso and Mogadishu segments will be equipped with a switched ROADM, to provide flexible capacity routing and a robust fault protection scheme for the system. The structure of the system also includes three branch units off a three fiber-pair trunk, where each pair has a capacity of 40 channels at 300 Gbps.
Djibouti Telecom Director General, Mohamed Assoweh Bouh, says: “We are very pleased that the DARE1 system is progressing on schedule and will be ready for service in 2020. We understand the importance of bringing connectivity to eastern Africa and couldn’t imagine a better company to partner with to achieve this mission other than SubCom.”
The CTO of Somtel Group, Ismail Duale, says: “We’re thrilled that this major milestone has been completed in the DARE1 project. Somtel’s customers will soon be able to experience Internet plans with greater reliability and higher speeds, as well as more choices at affordable prices.”
Telkom Kenya’s MD for Carrier Services, Kebaso Mokogi, says: “Telkom is excited to be the landing party in Nyali, Mombasa, with the DARE1 consortium, considering the benefits it has in store for the country. This investment will offer diversity in the routing of traffic and will also provide for fibre continuity, cognisant of the risk at the high seas. The development of regional backbones such as the DARE1 will also increase access to data in the region, with eventual gains being realised on cost for the end consumer.”
Vice President of Project Management at SubCom, Debbie Brask, says: “The timely manufacture of the DARE1 undersea plant keeps us on schedule to get this system ready for service in June, 2020. This is a testament to our talented manufacturing team and our strong partnership with Djibouti Telecom, Somtel and Telkom Kenya, and we’re looking forward to commencing installation.”
DARE1 Cable System Map
About Djibouti Telecom
Djibouti Telecom SA is the primary telecommunications company of Djibouti, providing landline, mobile and Internet services. The company is headquartered in Djibouti City, Djibouti. Djibouti Telecom was founded in 1999 and has ever since established itself as a regional hub responsible for delivering a complete portfolio of voice, data/IP and capacity services over state-of-the-art network infrastructure that reaches out to eastern and southern Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Djibouti Telecom is now the leading strategic hub for international telecommunications services in East Africa and Host seven International Cables. Visit: www.djiboutitelecom.dj
About Somtel Somalia LTD
Somtel is one of the leading telecommunications companies in Somalia, providing landline, mobile and internet services. Somtel was founded in 1997 and was the first operator to launch a 3G and LTE network in Somalia. Somtel has also transformed the financial system in Somalia through its Edahab system. Visit: www.somtelnetwork.net
About Telkom Kenya
Telkom connects the people that keep Kenya on the move. It does this by providing integrated telecommunications solutions to individuals, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), Government and large corporates in Kenya, drawing from a diverse solutions suite that includes voice, data, mobile money as well as network services. Powered by its vast fibre optic infrastructure, it is also a major provider of wholesale carrier-to-carrier traffic, within the country and the region.
Telkom is building on strong, consumer-centric ethos that is committed to providing innovative, accessible and refreshingly simple communications solutions that suit customers’ everyday communication needs.
Established as a telecommunications operator in April 1999, Telkom is 60 per cent owned by Helios Investment Partners, with the remaining stake held by Kenyans through the Government of Kenya. Please visit www.telkom.co.ke to get to know more about Telkom.
Telkom Kenya owns a 23% stake in TEAMS, a 5,000km undersea fibre optic cable through Fujairah, UAE; a 10% stake in LION2 another 2,700km undersea fibre optic cable through Mauritius. It also owns a 2.6% stake in the East African Submarine System Cable and manages the National Optic Fibre Backbone, an inland fibre optic cable network running through Kenyan counties. Visit telkom.co.ke
About SubCom
SubCom is the leading global partner for today’s undersea data transport requirements. SubCom designs, manufactures, deploys, maintains, and operates the industry’s most reliable fiber optic cable networks. Its flexible solutions include repeaterless to ultra-long-haul, offshore oil and gas, scientific applications, and marine services. SubCom brings end-to-end network knowledge and global experience to support on-time delivery and meet the needs of customers worldwide. To date, the company has deployed over 200 networks – enough undersea cable to circle Earth more than 17 times at the equator. Visit: www.subcom.com
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