East Africa: A new submarine cable to boost internet access
June 10th 2026
With the acceleration of digital transformation, we are witnessing the emergence of increasingly bandwidth-intensive uses. As demand continues to grow, African countries are strengthening their infrastructure to meet it.
Kenyan President William Ruto announced on Monday, June 8, that he had secured €37 million (US$42.8 million) from the European Union for a project to connect his country, along with Tanzania, Djibouti, and Somalia, to a new submarine cable. The initiative aims to improve internet access in these countries and in East Africa more broadly.
The cable is the African extension of the Blue-Raman project announced in July 2021 by Google. 12,700 kilometers long, it is intended to connect Europe to India via the Middle East, with a landing on the east coast of Africa.
The Italian company Sparkle, a partner on the project, explains that the infrastructure is composed of two sections. Blue was initially intended to connect Italy, France, Greece, and Israel, while Raman was to connect Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, and India. Each of the two sections has 16 pairs of optical fibers and is based on an open access approach.
The new cable will strengthen the digital infrastructure of each of the countries involved. According to the Submarine Cable Map platform, Kenya is currently served by seven submarine cables, while two more are expected in 2026 and 2027 respectively. Tanzania is connected to five cables, Djibouti to eight, and Somalia to five.
An expected impact on costs
The Kenyan president believes that Blue Raman will help reduce bandwidth costs. This view is supported by several studies. In a report published in June 2025, the Foundation for Studies and Research on International Development (FERDI) indicates that doubling international capacity leads to an immediate decrease of approximately 32% in the price of fixed broadband and up to 50% for mobile broadband.
The World Bank reaches similar conclusions. In a study published in July 2024, it estimates that each doubling of submarine cable capacity in Africa leads to an average decrease of 7% in the price of fixed broadband internet and 13% for mobile broadband.
This comes at a time when the cost of internet access is considered one of the main obstacles to the adoption and regular use of digital services. According to data from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a 5 GB mobile internet package represents 4.1% of gross national income (GNI) per capita in Kenya, compared to 4.79% in Tanzania, 4% in Somalia, and 5.74% in Djibouti. For fixed broadband, this ratio reaches 12.3% in Kenya, 28% in Tanzania, 50% in Somalia, and 5.26% in Djibouti. The ITU’s affordability threshold is 2%.
Infrastructure security and blind spots
Reducing costs can therefore help to bridge the digital divide. The ITU indicates, for example, that only 35% of the Kenyan population used the Internet in 2024, compared to 31.2% of Tanzanians, 27.9% of Somalis and 65.3% of Djiboutians.
However, it should be noted that several unknowns remain. The implementation schedule for the infrastructure has not yet been announced, even though 2024 was initially mentioned as the project’s target date.
Furthermore, the issue of infrastructure security arises. Several incidents affecting submarine cables have been recorded in recent months, whether accidental or intentional, resulting in more or less prolonged disruptions to Internet access.
For example, on March 4, 2025, the PEACE cable was severed in the Red Sea. A few months earlier, in May 2024, the EASSy and SEACOM cables had also been damaged before being repaired three weeks later. These disruptions affected millions of users, particularly in Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Burundi, Rwanda, Madagascar, the Comoros, Uganda, Somalia, and Kenya.
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