Somalilandsun: TE SubCom supply contract for the Djibouti Africa Regional Express 1 (DARE1) submarine cable system has come into force, Djibouti Telecom and Somtel informed. The 5,400 km DARE1 submarine cable system is the first step in a planned expansion into eastern Africa, which connects Djibouti (Djibouti), Mogadishu (Somalia) and Mombasa (Kenya) and delivers up to 30 Tbps of capacity. Future options for expansion of the cable include major coastal cities in the Somali territories and other countries in East Africa and the Horn of Africa, which will provide an alternative high-capacity and low-latency route. The DARE1 consortium is currently composed of Djibouti Telecom and Somtel. The DARE1 cable is configured as a three fiber pair trunk, with each fiber pair delivering a cross-sectional capacity of 150 channels at 100 Gbps. “We are pleased to partner with Somtel and Dahabshiil Group to further develop the region. With high-capacity and low-latency, the DARE1 system will offer an alternative route to East Africa and the Horn of Africa and we are confident in SubCom’s superior technology and operational expertise. We look forward to expanding DARE1 into other regions,” said M Mohamed Assoweh Bouh, Djibouti Telecom general manager. “DARE1 will be the first submarine cable of its kind to link Mogadishu to the global network. With the support of Dahabshiil Group, Somtel will bring affordable internet services with better performance to the region. Connectivity to the rest of the world is indispensable for developing the region, and the DARE1 system will ease congestion across existing systems, promoting competition and supplying much needed capacity to vital services, such as Mobile Money Services. Somtel’s customers will also experience internet plans with greater reliability and higher speeds, as well as more choices at affordable prices. Somtel and Dahabshiil Group are open to partnering with other interested players in the industry to further enhance our current services. We are committed to continue working with our current partners in both cable and data, and our aim remains to provide quality and reliable services at affordable prices,” said Abdirashid Duale, CEO of Dahabshiil Group. “SubCom is pleased to be working with our DARE1 partners on this exciting project to bring significant bandwidth to the region,” said Michael Rieger, vice president, global sales, SubCom. “We continue to support our clients as they expand DARE1’s scope to realize its full service potential.”
Related read: Djibouti Telecom, Somtel, Telkom Kenya and SubCom begin installation of DARE1 submarine cable
