Seacom has officially launched SEACOM 2.0, a groundbreaking submarine cable system designed to enhance connectivity across the Indian Ocean Basin, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and Southern Europe.
The company’s initial subsea cable, introduced in 2009, connected various countries around the Indian Ocean, drastically reducing connectivity costs by 300% and facilitating true uncapped broadband services in South Africa.
Seacom’s existing 17,000 km cable extends from Mtunzini in KwaZulu-Natal along Africa’s west coast, traversing the Red Sea and Egypt, before reaching Marseille, France.
The new SEACOM 2.0 cable will follow a similar route, incorporating additional pathways, and boasts an impressive maximum capacity of 2,000 Tbps (2 petabits per second).
With a region expected to experience rapid growth and housing 2.9 billion people across 33 nations—many with young populations and an emerging middle class—Seacom 2.0 is designed to future-proof connectivity for the decades ahead. The company anticipates that by 2030, networks will need to support over 10 billion AI agents, with SEACOM 2.0 as the backbone of this AI-led transformation.
Looking to the future, Seacom aims for its system to support a global population of 10 billion by 2050, with the Indian Ocean Basin projected to accommodate half of humanity.
Seacom emphasises that SEACOM 2.0 is not just another cable; it features a cutting-edge 48-fibre-pair architecture specifically engineered for high-capacity, low-latency AI applications. The cable landing stations will evolve into AI communication nodes, seamlessly connecting the sovereign AI infrastructures of African nations with global data hubs.
However, Seacom emphasises that SEACOM 2.0 goes beyond mere capacity. It embodies a commitment to resilience in response to recent disruptions that highlighted system vulnerabilities. The project includes diversified routes closer to African coasts and open, carrier-neutral landing points to minimise risks and improve security.
This strategic design ensures uninterrupted connectivity while empowering Africa’s digital sovereignty. It transforms coastal nations from passive links to active participants in global digital flows, enabling landlocked regions, such as those in the SADC and East Africa, to become content and application hubs, thereby reducing their dependency on single routes.
Seacom Group CEO Alpheus Mangale stated that the project’s success relies heavily on forming strategic partnerships with governments, regulators, and industry stakeholders. Over the past year, Seacom has collaborated with leaders from existing and potential landing countries to align with regulations, co-invest in infrastructure, and maximise local benefits.
“SEACOM 2.0 isn’t just a cable; it’s the cornerstone of a shared, AI-driven future,” declared Mangale. “This initiative fundamentally empowers Africa and its neighbouring countries to control their digital futures. We’re laying the groundwork for a resilient, sustainable, and inclusive system through open access and regional integration.”
In a recent report, Remgro shared its annual financial results, noting that Seacom faced significant economic challenges due to an undersea cable disruption resulting from unrest in the Middle East in 2024. For the fiscal year ending June 2025, Seacom contributed US$686,775 to Remgro’s headline earnings, marking a 78% decrease from US$3 million in the previous year.
Remgro attributed Seacom’s financial decline to elevated managed capacity costs and exceptional cable repair expenses incurred after an outage on the northern segment of the Seacom cable during the latter half of 2024.
Remgro, which holds a 30% stake in Seacom, noted that Seacom currently operates two fibre-optic cable pairs connecting South Africa and Europe.
In 2024, Seacom experienced two cable breaks. The incident in the northern section occurred in the Red Sea in February 2024, following an attack by Houthi militants on a cargo vessel, severing not only the Seacom cable but also those of AAE-1 and EIG, significantly disrupting internet traffic between Africa and Europe, as well as Asia and Europe.
Repairs for the affected cables were delayed for months, mainly due to the conflict in the Red Sea and divided control over Yemeni waters. Following extensive negotiations with the relevant governments, Seacom successfully repaired the cable in the third quarter of 2024.
The higher managed costs were compounded by Seacom’s need to reroute IP-based services intended for Europe and other regions through the Equiano, PEACE, and WACS cables along Africa’s west coast.
While Seacom maintained traffic along Africa’s east coast between South Africa and Kenya, a segment of that connection also sustained damage in May 2024, leading to repairs that were accounted for in Remgro’s prior financial results.
Despite declining earnings, Remgro remains committed to its investment in Seacom, stressing the importance of ongoing developments in African connectivity and infrastructure.
