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On 28 August 2025, Djibouti Telecom announced that it will extend the Djibouti Africa Regional Express DARE-1 submarine cable from Kenya to Tanzania, Madagascar, Mozambique and South Africa. The extension will be between 3,200-km and 3,500-km in length, with cable landings planned in Mombasa (Kenya), Dar es Salaam and Mtwara (Tanzania), Nacala, Beira, and Maputo (Mozambique), Mahajanga and Toliary (Madagascar), and Mtunzini (South Africa). The project is due to start in 2026, according to a company press release, with an estimated ready for service in 2028.

Djibouti Telecom says that the extension is conceived as a regional African cable, adding capacity and route diversity for carriers, enterprises and cloud providers from East to Southern Africa. It will improve resilience by adding alternative paths and landings, support the region’s digital economy with scalable international bandwidth, and complement existing systems to provide reliable, low-latency connectivity to global hubs.

Previously, Djibouti Telecom announced the entry into service of the DARE 1 submarine cable in March 2021 (see Djibouti: DARE 1 Submarine Cable Enters Service). The 4,854-km DARE 1 cable has a capacity of 36 Tbps, and runs from Djibouti City (Djibouti) to Mombasa (Kenya), with landings in Bossaso (Puntland) and Mogadishu (Somalia).

Earlier this year during April 2025, Djibouti Telecom also announced that it was working to establish a new terrestrial fibre optic link from Djibouti to Nairobi (the capital of Kenya). The operator said that the new link will use high voltage power lines running through Ethiopia, and at a distance of 1,800-km will more than halve the current route distance of 4,000-km using submarine cables via Mombasa and therefore significantly reduce the latency on this route from Djibouti to Nairobi. Following the entry into service of the DARE 1 submarine cable in 2021, the new terrestrial route will also close a fibre ring from Djibouti – Mombasa – Nairobi – Addis Ababa – Djibouti.

This also follows after Djibouti Telecom signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in December 2024 with Ethio Telecom and Sudatel Telecom Group for the Horizon Fibre Initiative, to deploy a new high capacity, diverse cross-border terrestrial fibre route between Djibouti, Ethiopia and Sudan (see Africa: Ethio Telecom, Djibouti Telecom, and Sudatel Sign MoU For Horizon Fibre Initiative).

Source: Djibouti Telecom