Djibouti Telecom has announced plans to extend the regional subsea cable, Djibouti Africa Regional Express 1 (DARE1), southward along Africa’s east coast to broaden reach and enhance route diversity.

The DARE1 cable system – which has been operational since 2021 – currently runs along the Horn of Africa connecting Djibouti City with Bosaso and Mogadishu in Somalia and Mombasa, Kenya with 36 Tbps of capacity over three fibre pairs.

According to an announcement from Djibouti Telecom on Thursday, DARE1 will be expanded with a new 3,200-3,500 km link from Mombasa all the way down to Mtunzini in South Africa, with branches planned for Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar.

Tanzania will have two landing points in Dar es Salaam and Mtwara, while Mozambique will have three landing points in Nakala, Beira and Maputo. Madagascar will also get two landing points at Mahajanga and Toliary.

Djibouti Telecom said it intends to transform DARE1 into a regional African cable that will add capacity, low latency and resilient route diversity for carriers, enterprises and cloud providers from East to Southern Africa.

Djibouti Telecom also said work on the DARE1 extension will start next year, and be ready for service in 2028.

Apart from Djibouti Telecom, the existing DARE1 system is backed by Hormuud Telecom Somalia, Somtel International and Telkom Kenya.