Safaricom has officially confirmed it is partnering with Meta subsidiary Edge Network Services to establish the Daraja subsea cable system that will connect Kenya and Oman.

Word of the Daraja project emerged in September 2025 after Kenya’s National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) released an environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) study report prepared for Safaricom in June 2025. According to the report, the 4,108-km Daraja system will sport 24 fibre pairs and provide a direct route between Salalah, Oman and Mombasa, Kenya, with an optional branch for South Africa.

Neither Safaricom nor Meta made any official announcement regarding Daraja until Tuesday, when Safaricom announced that Meta had named it as the official landing partner for the project.

Safaricom said the system will be fully funded by Edge, with “locally licensed operators in Kenya and Oman being contracted to operate the cable segment within territorial waters, as well as all associated in-country infrastructure.”

The NEMA report said the Kenyan branch of the project is budgeted at US$23 million.

The Daraja cable will be the first international subsea cable that Safaricom will have direct control over. Safaricom sought permission from the Communications Authority of Kenya at the start of this year to build its own subsea cable, aiming to reduce reliance on third-party providers and enhance network resilience following last year’s rash of cable cuts.

Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa said the deal heralds the telco’s readiness to transition into a fully-fledged tech company by 2030 under its current strategy plan.

“It positions us to meet the surging demand for high-capacity, low-latency connectivity which is critical for powering economic growth, cloud adoption and digital innovation,” Ndegwa said in a statement.

According to the NEMA report, Safaricom has contracted Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) to build the Daraja cable, which is scheduled to be ready for service sometime next year.