In today's headlines, African Telecoms giant Seacom announced that it will be laying fiber optic broadband cables in the coming year in three African nations: Burundi, Somalia, and Southern Sudan. Fiber optic technology has revolutionized telecommunications by providing higher bandwidth, faster internet speeds, and more reliable connections compared to traditional copper networks. While submarine communications cables are used to connect countries and continents to the Internet, terrestrial fibre optic cables are used to extend this connectivity to landlocked countries or to urban centers within a country. Kenya alone has 7 operational submarine cables landing primarily in Mombasa, with 2 more — Africa-1 and Daraja — expected operational in 2026-2027. The 2Africa cable, which. Despite being home to some of the fastest-growing economies in the world, East Africa's internet penetration rate remains below 40%, lagging significantly behind the global average of 66. Approximately 70% of East Africa's population lives in rural areas, where traditional connectivity. In Africa, where vast distances and challenging geographies have long hindered infrastructure development, fiber offers a resilient and high-capacity alternative to legacy systems. In both cases, the development of digital services enabled by broadband access is limited.
