Safaricom, in partnership with Meta, is building a new subsea Internet cable that will connect Kenya and Oman.
The $23 million investment, backed by Meta’s infrastructure affiliate Edge Network Services, is set to cut Internet costs, improve access, and boost resilience in East Africa’s fast-growing digital economy.
Meta and Safaricom Working Together
For Safaricom, the Kenya–Oman cable will be a historic milestone, its first direct step into the subsea infrastructure space.
Until now, the telco has relied on capacity from third-party international systems such as TEAMS (The East African Marine System), SEACOM, and the EASSy cable to deliver connectivity to its customers.
By co-owning and investing in its own undersea cable, Safaricom secures greater independence and flexibility in managing bandwidth.
Unlike leasing capacity from external providers, this move allows the company to set terms on pricing, expand capacity on demand, and ensure improved resilience in case of disruptions to existing routes.
It also gives Kenya an additional gateway to global networks, reducing the country’s reliance on the handful of landing stations currently concentrated along the coast.
Meta’s Expanding Role in Africa’s Connectivity
Meta is stepping up its investments in Africa’s connectivity, while also looking globally. The company is the lead backer of 2Africa, a 45,000 km subsea cable set to go live this year, which will connect 33 countries with 180 Tbps of capacity.
Beyond that, Meta is planning the world’s longest subsea cable, a 50,000 km system that will link the US, India, Brazil, South Africa, and more, designed to handle growing internet demand and support AI.
In Africa, Meta is also improving local access through projects like data centers, peering at LINX Nairobi to reduce latency, and building terrestrial fiber networks such as the 2,200 km DRC route with Liquid Intelligent Technologies.
Together, these efforts show Meta’s push to make internet access faster, cheaper, and more reliable across Africa and beyond.
