Saudi telecommunications company Mobily has successfully landed the Africa-1 subsea cable in Duba, Saudi Arabia. Developed by Alcatel Submarine Networks, the Africa-1 cable is designed to connect East Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. Spanning over 10,000 kilometers, it features eight fiber pairs and 11 landing points, including locations in Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, France, Kenya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, the UAE, and Yemen. The Duba landing marks the fourth for the cable, following previous landings in Mombasa, Karachi, and Ras Ghareb. Once operational, the cable will offer a capacity of 96 terabits per second across its eight fiber pairs. Initially scheduled for completion at the end of last year, the Africa-1 cable is now expected to be operational by early 2026. The project is backed by a consortium of eight key partners, including Mobily, e& (formerly Etisalat), Omantel, PTCL, TeleYemen, Telecom Egypt, and G42.
According to industry expert Roderick Beck, the Africa-1 cable will provide much-needed capacity to East African countries, which have been suffering from severe subsea cable capacity shortages.

Eng. Salman Al-Badran, CEO of Mobily, stated, “The successful landing of the Africa-1 submarine cable in Saudi Arabia will contribute to increasing broadband capacities in the Kingdom and achieving the goals of Saudi Vision 2030, positioning the Kingdom as a globally recognized digital hub. It will also strengthen its leadership in the region’s digital economy by establishing an integrated digital infrastructure that makes it a global hub for data exchange. Currently, only the 2Africa and Saudi Vision cables land in Duba, with Google’s Raman cable expected later this year.