This archive report was first published on 30 August 2019.
Published on August 30, 2019, SEACOM landed 10 years ago as the first undersea cable to provide internet services in Africa, following a 2-year construction project that cost over $500 million (KSh51.5 billion) and pooled together different investors.
Since then, the company has witnessed tremendous growth of various internet-powered businesses like financial institutions, tech hubs, fintechs, business process outsourcing companies, and most recently, data centers.
SEACOM Business ¶
SEACOM Business, launched in 2015 in South Africa and later in 2016 in Kenya, allows corporates to power their businesses with international data connectivity. The product has seen tremendous uptake, prompting the company to launch in Uganda this year.
However, with the inland expansion came the challenge of reaching more businesses and the need for faster terrestrial connectivity. To address these challenges, SEACOM invested in terrestrial and metro fibre.
Earlier this year, SEACOM finalized the acquisition of FibreCo, a terrestrial fibre provider in South Africa. According to CEO Byron Clatterbuck, this acquisition enables them to get to office parks and corporate headquarters to provide their service directly.
“SEACOM will continue to provide the backbone for the industry…we will see more terrestrial investments as well as acquisitions…to get more network and more scale”
Byron Clatterbuck, SEACOM CEO
SEACOM's acquisition of FibreCo offers resiliency and protection for the undersea cable on the east coast of Africa, allowing for routing of traffic to the West coast of Africa.
Keeping up with increasing demand ¶
Africa's young population and high mobile penetration rates have caused an ever-increasing demand for internet connectivity. The increasing popularity of OTT providers like Netflix and Showmax across the continent is further driving the demand for the internet.
SEACOM has built their entire network over fibre for scale and affordability. They recently announced plans to double the capacity on their undersea cable from the current 1.5 Tbps to 3 Tbps, which will help not only consumers but also businesses benefit from emerging technologies like cloud computing and Internet of Things.
