Seacom Expands Regional Network Between Nairobi and Kampala

Seacom has launched a new Nairobi-Kampala route, adding a high-capacity terrestrial connection between Kenya and Uganda as demand for digital services continues to grow across East Africa.

The new network links Nairobi, Kisumu and Kampala while providing an upgraded pathway for traffic moving inland from subsea cable landing stations in Mombasa. The investment strengthens one of the region’s most important connectivity corridors and forms part of a broader effort to improve network resilience and scalability as businesses, governments and consumers rely on increasingly data-intensive services.

A New Layer of Capacity Between Kenya and Uganda

The route has been designed to support a wide range of industries that depend on reliable connectivity, including telecommunications, financial services, cloud computing and digital commerce.

According to Seacom, the corridor plays a central role in moving traffic between Kenya and Uganda while also connecting inland markets to international bandwidth delivered through subsea cable systems landing on the Kenyan coast.

At launch, the network activates 1Tbps of capacity. The infrastructure has been designed to scale to as much as 30Tbps as demand increases, allowing capacity upgrades without major changes to the underlying fibre network.

The deployment reflects a broader industry trend in which operators are preparing for sustained growth in cloud services, enterprise workloads, streaming traffic and emerging artificial intelligence applications.

Building Resilience Into a Critical Regional Corridor

While additional capacity is important, the project’s defining feature may be its emphasis on network resilience.

Seacom says the route incorporates Automated Switched Optical Network (ASON) technology, enabling traffic to be rerouted automatically in less than 50 milliseconds if a network fault occurs. The capability is intended to minimise disruption and maintain service continuity during outages or infrastructure failures.

The company has also introduced route diversity along the corridor.

Alongside the traditional A104 corridor that carries traffic from Mombasa through Nairobi and into neighbouring countries, the network includes an alternative pathway running through Narok, Kericho and Kisumu.

The dual-route design reduces dependence on a single fibre path and helps limit the impact of cable cuts, maintenance work or other disruptions that could affect connectivity.

A further layer of redundancy comes from the use of two border crossings, Malaba and Busia, rather than relying on a single cross-border connection point.

For enterprises, service providers and cloud operators serving multiple markets, these measures improve network stability across national boundaries.

Beyond Nairobi and Kampala

Although the route directly connects Kenya and Uganda, its impact extends beyond the two countries.

The corridor serves as a gateway into Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, markets that increasingly depend on regional infrastructure to access international internet capacity and cloud services.

As cross-border digital services continue to expand, fibre networks are becoming essential infrastructure for trade, financial transactions and public services operating across multiple jurisdictions.

The new route therefore strengthens not only bilateral connectivity but also the wider regional digital ecosystem.

Preparing for the Next Wave of Digital Demand

The launch comes as East Africa experiences rising investment in data centres, cloud infrastructure and terrestrial fibre networks.

Over the past decade, Kenya has established itself as a major digital gateway through multiple subsea cable landings in Mombasa and extensive domestic fibre deployments. As more applications and services move closer to end users, the quality and resilience of inland transport networks are becoming increasingly important.

Seacom’s latest investment reflects that shift.

Rather than focusing solely on increasing bandwidth, operators are placing greater emphasis on building networks that can withstand disruptions, recover quickly from faults and scale alongside future demand.

The Nairobi-Kampala route represents another step in the evolution of East Africa’s digital backbone, reinforcing the infrastructure that carries data between coastal landing stations and some of the region’s fastest-growing digital markets.

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