DJIBOUTI – To meet the ever-growing demand and network resiliency requirements, Djibouti Telecom has begun construction of a new cable landing station (CLS) in Djibouti City.

Due to be completed in April 2022 the new Cable Landing Station will be a neutral digital port which will provide an open access cable landing service to submarine cable operators for a neutral, safe and secure landing in Djibouti City.

With a network comprised of 8 operational subsea cables and 5 on-project cable systems, Djibouti Telecom is positioned as a centre for telecoms services in East Africa.

As such, this latest CLS comes in response to the ever-growing demand and need for network resiliency and this new facility adds to the company’s two existing cable landing stations.

The new CLS is designed as a neutral digital port which will provide an open access cable landing service to subsea cable operators for a neutral, safe and secure landing in Djibouti City.

Housed in a state-of-the-art building, the CLS will consist of 3 floors, each one with a 250 square meter equipment room powered with the latest technology and delivering “unparalleled operating efficiency and security to host multiple cables”.

In addition, the new CLS will be equipped with advanced security equipment, techniques and procedures to control access to the premise while the 3rd floor will be reserved for a neutral colocation centre, which will allow Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft (GAFAM) or cloud providers to host their servers closer to their African users.

With the new station under construction, “Djibouti Telecom is building a real digital platform for the region,” said Mohamed Assoweh Bouh, director general of Djibouti Telecom.

August 2021 saw Djibouti Telecom ramp up the capacity of its Djibouti Africa Regional Express 1 (DARE1) network with Ciena.

For the upgrade, the operator used Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme submarine networking technology, enabling a doubling of rates up to 400Gbps.

Spectrum-sharing capabilities also allow the partitioning of submarine optical spectrum to different users for more efficient asset use.

During the past 10 years, Djibouti Telecom have invested over US$200 million in new Submarine Cables and Terrestrial Networks to deal with the explosion of Internet traffic in Africa, which is increasing tenfold every five years.  

Today, Djibouti is a real African hub for Internet traffic.

Liked this article? Subscribe to DealStreet Africa News, our regular email newsletter with the latest news, deals, and insights from Africa’s business, economy, and more. SUBSCRIBE HERE