Meta, the US social media and expertise firm that owns Fb, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has picked Safaricom, Kenya’s largest telecom operator, as its native touchdown associate for a brand new submarine cable linking Oman and Kenya.
The mission provides Safaricom direct management over worldwide capability for the primary time, whereas serving to Meta safe a quicker and extra dependable community for its regional operations. It is going to additionally enhance resilience for Meta platforms and strengthen information motion throughout East Africa.
The $23 million “Daraja” system, totally funded by Meta’s subsidiary Edge Community Companies, includes a 24-fibre-pair design.
Safaricom will function the Kenyan touchdown web site and handle in-country infrastructure. The transfer positions it as an infrastructure proprietor quite than a bandwidth lessee, which aligns with its Imaginative and prescient 2030 plan to evolve from a telecom operator to a full-fledged expertise firm.
For Meta, the Oman–Kenya hyperlink enhances its 45,000-kilometre 2Africa cable and offers a route that bypasses the congested Purple Sea hall. The 2Africa cable—the world’s longest undersea cable, constructed primarily for Africa—has already landed in a number of of its deliberate 32 African places and is designed to encircle the continent. It reached Lagos and Kwa Ibo in southeastern Nigeria in November 2023.
The Oman–Kenya route additionally strengthens digital and commerce hyperlinks between East Africa and the Center East, which can reinforce Kenya’s place because the area’s fundamental connectivity hub.
The funding provides Safaricom the spine to scale its subsequent progress engines. With voice income remaining flat, Safaricom’s focus has shifted to M-PESA and information providers, which grew by 15.2% and 16.5%, respectively, in fiscal 12 months 2025. The cable helps its push into enterprise and cloud markets by enhancing bandwidth reliability and enabling native information internet hosting for company purchasers.
Safaricom holds about 65% of Kenya’s cellular market. The deal may widen that lead, including stress on Airtel and Telkom Kenya to hunt different applied sciences resembling satellite tv for pc connectivity.
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