Subsea cable provider Seacom revealed on Thursday it will build a new subsea cable system, Seacom 2.0, that will provide AI-level capacity across the Indian Ocean Basin, Middle East, Mediterranean, and Southern Europe.
Announced at Submarine Networks World 2025 in Singapore, Seacom 2.0 will pack 48 fibre pairs, which Seacom said is needed to support coming demand for high-capacity, low-latency AI workloads.
Seacom also said the new cable’s landing stations will function as "AI communication nodes, seamlessly linking African nations’ sovereign AI infrastructure to global data hubs."
The 25,000-km system will connect Singapore directly to South Africa, and will also run along the coast of the Indian Ocean Basin to the Red Sea corridor and on to Marseilles, France. Landing points are also planned every coastal country along the eastern Africa coast, with the route looping around South Africa and up the west coast as far as Angola.
Seacom 2.0 is also designed to be more resilient by adopting diversified routes closer to African shores and open, carrier-neutral landing points to reduce risks and enhance security. This not only ensures uninterrupted connectivity, but also reinforces Africa’s digital sovereignty and “transforms coastal nations from passive endpoints into active custodians of global digital flow,” Seacom said.
Seacom was one of several subsea cables affected by outages on both sides of the African continent last year.
Seacom group CEO Alpheus Mangale said the new system will also act as a gateway for landlocked regions, such as the SADC and East African markets, reducing reliance on single routes and positioning countries as hubs for content and applications providers.
“This project isn’t just about connecting people; it is about ensuring Africa and its neighbours control their digital destinies,” Mangale said in a statement. “By enabling open access and regional integration, we are creating a system that is resilient, sustainable, and inclusive.”
The current Seacom cable – which has been operational since 2009 – connects South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Djibouti, France and India. Seacom didn’t provide an expected ready-for-service date for Seacom 2.0.
