What has fibre connectivity on the east coast of Africa done for the continent?

Fibre connectivity along the east coast of Africa has radically improved internet speeds in the region. After the SEACOM cable went live in 2009, connectivity prices dropped and businesses benefited from more affordable high speed internet. Before the SEACOM cable was provisioned on the East coast of the continent, internet traffic could only traverse to Europe on the West Coast.

History of fibre connectivity in East Africa

Much of the African high speed internet traffic is carried by subsea fibre cable networks. This network spans the east coast of Africa, connecting major economic hubs in the region to the rest of Africa, Europe and Asia.

Africa's telecommunication needs are served by several submarine cable systems, all of which have become operational in the last two decades. The first submarine fibre optic cable system to connect South Africa to Europe via eastern Africa went live in July 2009.

With an initial capacity of 1.28 Tbps, the launch of the SEACOM cable marked a milestone in the evolution of internet connectivity in Africa. At 17 000 kilometres long, this cable radically improved connectivity in East Africa and Southern Africa. It also served to reduce connectivity prices, giving businesses and individuals access to more affordable world-class fibre internet.

By laying the first broadband submarine cable system along Africa's south and east coastlines, SEACOM has been an important player in the history of fibre connectivity in Africa. The SEACOM cable first went live in South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya and Djibouti.

Cable landing stations along the eastern and southern African coast provide the necessary infrastructure for bringing subsea fibre optic networks inland. About six months after the SEACOM cable went live, we launched our first IP services, thus directly providing African enterprises with industry-leading fibre connectivity.

Fibre infrastructure boosts connectivity speeds in Africa

SEACOM established its first point of presence (PoP) in Johannesburg in 2011. A PoP is an access point at which two or more networks converge to share a connection. From there, bandwidth can be managed and connection speeds distributed.

SEACOM’s first PoP allowed customers in the region to connect to a central point. Routers within the PoP offer multiple routes for traffic to flow along the network. An essential part of fibre infrastructure, PoPs not only serve customers close to the fibre optic network but also provide a link to the so-called ‘last mile’ - those living out of range of the fibre network.

This initial PoP brought in a new age of internet connectivity, with improved speeds, lower latency and enhanced performance. Another advantage of a PoP is that network security can improve through firewalls that protect the network from internal and external threats. Subsequent upgrades to the SEACOM fibre optic infrastructure between 2013 and 2018 further served to enhance connectivity in the region.

In March 2013, upgrades to SEACOM submarine network capacity served to turbo boost African internet. Later that same year, SEACOM established another PoP in Cape Town and gave 100 Mbps internet access to four innovation hubs in Nairobi, Kenya.

Internet in Uganda was boosted by a SEACOM PoP established in 2014, and again in early 2016, with SEACOM’s support of several innovation hubs in the country. SEACOM subsequently launched PoPs in Rwanda and Botswana, in 2016 and 2017 respectively. The latest upgrades to the SEACOM cable brought capacity up to 3 Tbps.

SEACOM infrastructure supports boom in local data centres

Before the advent of cloud computing and video streaming, ADSL technologies were adequate enough. Basic web-browsing and emailing were supported by this connection type. But as the business landscape has increasingly become more digitised and reliant on high speed, low latency internet, the need for robust fibre optic connectivity has emerged.

The push to reduce latency in Africa has largely been driven by corporations. Businesses operating on the African continent need a localised solution so that intensive internet use is supported. Large organisations operating on the cloud, for example, need a high speed fibre connection in order to perform optimally. What's more, there is the issue of data sovereignty and this has pushed the development of locally hosted data centres.

High performance data centres, supported by SEACOM infrastructure, offer faster computing power and an expansion of the digital economy in Africa. Businesses benefit from seamless connectivity, an essential component of digitally enhanced business models. For example, this infrastructure facilitates the customer experience through enhanced cyber security and faster processing speeds for transactions, such as online payments.

Boosting enterprise connectivity in Africa

Through the partnership with internet service providers in Africa, SEACOM has helped to drive down the cost of high speed internet in the region. Following the launch of SEACOM Business in South Africa, Kenya and Uganda, we have become the preferred ICT and internet connectivity partner for African enterprises.

High speed, low latency and secure internet connections have brought corporates and small enterprises in Africa up to speed with global players. In addition to connectivity services, SEACOM Business offers a wide range of cyber security and cloud solutions, with adaptable and customisable product offerings.

Flexible, scalable and high quality solutions ensure that African businesses can enjoy world-class connectivity and cyber protection. SEACOM Business launched SD-WAN in South Africa and Kenya in 2020, followed by DDoS Protect shortly after. More recently, we have added SASE network architecture to our offerings. These advanced security and networking solutions protect enterprises from large scale cyber attacks on their networks, servers and connected devices.

Lower computing costs with SEACOM

Fibre connectivity on the east coast of Africa has lowered computing costs in a variety of ways. Firstly, a high speed connection improves business performance which leads to greater business performance. Employees are able to access critical business data, as well as collaborate in real time. This translates into improved work flows and seamless collaboration.

Computing costs are also driven down with the use of cloud computing compared to on-premise alternatives. The cloud offers a flexible and scalable networking solution whereby businesses only pay for what they need, rather than needing to invest in their own on-site networking solutions, such as data centres and on-premises infrastructure.

Since the cloud is based on shared resources, businesses benefit from reduced data storage costs while simultaneously enjoying faster processing power. SEACOM has partnered with Microsoft to provide cloud services to businesses in east and southern Africa. For more information or to get a quote for our connectivity solutions, email us at marketing@seacom.com or leave us a message.

SEACOM owns Africa’s most extensive network of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure, including subsea cables and secure internet connections. We offer a diverse range of flexible, scalable and high-quality solutions for businesses that meet world-class standards for connectivity.

SEACOM is privately owned and operated, making it agile and adaptable to the needs of the customer. This makes us the preferred ICT and internet connectivity partner for African businesses and peripheral service providers. We can guarantee high-speed, low-latency and secure internet connections to corporates and small enterprises.

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