Seacom, the company that constructed the first submarine cable along Africa’s east coast, connecting South Africa with Europe and Asia, has announced plans to build a massive new system along a similar route.

Called Seacom 2.0, the system will be one of the highest-capacity undersea broadband cables ever built, offering 48 fibre pairs and over 2 000Tbit/s in speed (design capacity).

The new system will connect the Indian Ocean basin, the Middle East, the Mediterranean Sea and southern Europe, Seacom said in a statement shared with TechCentral on Thursday. Seacom announced the plans at Submarine Networks World 2025 in Singapore.

Seacom deployed its first cable system in 2009, a move that resulted in internet access prices in South Africa declining sharply and prompted internet service providers — led by Mweb — to introduce uncapped ADSL services for the first time.

“Cable landing stations will transform into AI communication nodes, seamlessly linking African nations’ sovereign AI infrastructure to global data hubs,” Seacom said in the statement.

‘Digital flow’

“After recent cable disruptions exposed vulnerabilities, the project adopts diversified routes closer to African shores and open, carrier-neutral landing points to reduce risks and enhance security. This design ensures uninterrupted connectivity while reinforcing Africa’s digital sovereignty and also a strategic decision that transforms coastal nations from passive endpoints into active custodians of global digital flow,” it added.