Kenya coast gets first fully protected submarine cable system as LuLu launches

A coalition of infrastructure and investment firms has unveiled the LuLu Coastal Cable System, the first fully protected submarine cable for Kenya’s Indian Ocean coastline, at ITW Africa 2026.

The system will run along 500km of coastline, linking five landing points from Mombasa to Lamu, including Vipingo Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Kilifi and Malindi. It combines a submarine cable on the ocean floor with a parallel, protected terrestrial route, an architecture the developers say is built to meet the resilience and redundancy standards required by governments, international operators and mission-critical industries.

The project is being co-developed by Mauritius-headquartered INDOI Ltd (IOX), Kenyan investment firm Blue Trade Investments Limited, ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms (ARISE IIP), which develops and operates Vipingo SEZ, AfriTrade Consulting Group and Kingdom Bank.

LuLu will use dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology in the 1550nm window, with 144 fibres and a design capacity of up to 60 terabits per second (Tbps) per fibre pair. It has a planned operational life of 25 years and will be run through centralised network management. The developers expect it to be ready for service in the second quarter of 2028, subject to contract execution.

Arunachalam Kandasamy, founder and chief executive of INDOI, said the launch marked a milestone for the company. “East Africa is not a market of the future, it is a market of right now,” he said, describing Kenya’s Mombasa-to-Lamu coastal corridor as one of the most commercially compelling stretches of coastline on the continent that has, until now, lacked a single unified protected digital infrastructure system.

Blue Trade Investments is INDOI’s Kenya-registered partner on the project, acting as the cable landing party and handling regulatory and operational matters locally. The firm’s relationships with Kenyan regulators, coastal communities and government institutions underpin the delivery of the project in-country.

The cable’s landing at Vipingo SEZ is expected to open the zone to investment beyond traditional manufacturing, including hyperscale data centres, cloud provider nodes, business process outsourcing campuses, fintech and payments platforms, cybersecurity operations and IoT-driven smart manufacturing.

George Olaka, country head of ARISE IIP Kenya, said direct submarine connectivity strengthens the zone’s ability to attract technology-driven businesses alongside manufacturers. “We are building it as a platform where industry, logistics, value addition and digital infrastructure can reinforce each other,” he said, adding that the partnership positions Kenya’s coast as both an industrial and digital growth corridor.

Anthony Mburu, managing director and chief executive of Kingdom Bank, said Blue Trade Investments is a client of the bank. “The LuLu Cable System highlights the increasing importance of digital infrastructure in driving investment, connectivity and economic activity along Kenya’s coast,” he said.

Dr Caroline Saroni, chief executive of AfriTrade Consulting Group, said her firm led the regulatory, licensing and commercial groundwork behind the project, working alongside sister law firm S&S Advocates on transaction structuring, regulatory clearance and compliance. “LuLu is exactly the kind of infrastructure Africa needs, resilient, purpose-built, and capable of unlocking real investment along Kenya’s coast, at Vipingo SEZ, and across the LAPSSET corridor,” she said.

The cable’s Mombasa landing point will connect the coastal system to the global internet backbone from the outset, giving landing stations along the route access to existing submarine cables already landed at the port city.

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