The Djibouti Africa Regional Express 1 (DARE 1) subsea cable is to be expanded to South Africa.
“Building on the success of DARE1 (linking Djibouti, Somalia, and Kenya), we’re extending the system south along Africa’s east coast—adding new landings in Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, and South Africa,” Djibouti Telecom last week said on LinkedIn.
A map shared by the company shows new landings in Dar es Salaam and Mtwara, Tanzania; Nakala, Maputo, and Beira, Mozambique; Mahajanga and Toliara, Madagascar; and Mtunzini, South Africa.
Deployment on the 3,200km (1,988 miles) extension will start in 2026 with a targeted 2030 completion date.
Announced in 2019 and launched in 2021, the original 4,854 km (3,016 miles) phase of the DARE1 cable links Djibouti City to Mombasa in Kenya, via Bosaso (Somalia) and Mogadishu (Somalia).
As well as Djibouti Telecom, the cable consortium includes Hormuud Telecom Somalia, Somtel International, and Telkom Kenya. The original three-fiber-pair system was developed for around $86 million.
The Eastern Africa Submarine System (EASSy), 2Africa, and SEACOM/Tata TGN-Eurasia cables also run from South Africa up the east coast of Africa. The Peace and the upcoming Africa-1 systems also link Kenya to countries further up the coast.
Djibouti is the landing point for a dozen current and existing subsea cables, linking the country to the rest of Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
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