Kenya is set to add two new undersea fibre optic cables before 2027 in Africa’s race for more bandwidth and high-speed internet amid the AI push.

The first is a 4,108-kilometre subsea fibre-optic cable running from Oman to Mombasa under a partnership between US tech giant Facebook and Safaricom, according to TeleGeography, a telecom research and analysis consultancy.

The consultancy also expects Africa-1, a 10,000 km long international submarine cable from France to the Middle East, through Africa, to land in Kenya next year.

Undersea cables, also known as submarine communications cables, are laid on the ocean floor and used to transmit data between continents.

These cables are the backbone of the global internet, carrying the bulk of international communications, including email, webpages and video calls.

One regularly cited statistic suggests more than 95 percent of the world’s internet traffic is transferred through undersea cables.

Kenya currently has seven subsea cable landings, placing it fifth in Africa after Egypt (15), Djibouti (12), South Africa (9) and Nigeria (8).

The new cables will expand Kenya’s capacity as the country races to close the gap with the continent’s top connectivity hubs.

Although satellite internet services such as Starlink have become more accessible, they remain significantly more expensive for moving large volumes of data.

Tech firms that serve as major providers of web services have invested huge sums in cable infrastructure.

Google said its new cable project would provide “industry-leading connectivity” to five major continents and help support its AI projects.

Kenya’s international internet bandwidth capacity has increased by 16.4 percent to 28.1 terabits per second, with 4G subscriptions surpassing 36 million by March 2026.

The new cables are expected to meet the rising demand for digital services from households and businesses.

Kenya’s push to attract new submarine cables is now a strategic effort to secure the infrastructure needed for the next wave of data centres, digital trade and innovation in East Africa, as investment in AI and cloud computing accelerates.

→ jwaweru@ke.nationmedia.com