Kenya Launches LuLu Coastal Cable System: New Protected Submarine Link From Mombasa to Lamu
Kenya has unveiled a new coastal submarine cable project intended to strengthen internet connectivity along its Indian Ocean coastline. The LuLu Coastal Cable System was launched at the ITW Africa 2026 conference in Nairobi and is described by its backers as the Kenyan coast’s first fully protected coastal cable system.
LuLu is designed to run along about 500 kilometres of coastline between Mombasa and Lamu. It will link five landing points: Mombasa, the Vipingo Special Economic Zone, Kilifi, Malindi and Lamu. The system combines two routes, a submarine cable along the seabed and a protected terrestrial path running in parallel. Developers say this design is meant to give the resilience, redundancy and availability demanded by governments, international operators and mission-critical industries.
The technical specifications are substantial. According to project details, LuLu will use DWDM technology in the 1550nm window, with 144 fibre pairs and a design capacity of up to 60 terabits per second per fibre pair. Subsea Forum reports that the project is targeting service in the second quarter of 2028, which means it is a planned system rather than one already carrying traffic. A total cost was not stated in the reports reviewed.
The project is being developed by a coalition of firms. Mauritius-headquartered ICT infrastructure developer INDOI will be the system’s developer, owner and commercial operator. Its Kenyan partner, Blue Trade Investments, will act as the cable landing party, regulatory interface and operational delivery partner. Other co-developers are AfriTrade Consulting Group, Kingdom Bank and ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms, the developer and operator of the Vipingo SEZ.
INDOI founder and chief executive Arunachalam Kandasamy said the launch marked a milestone for the company. He described East Africa as a market of the present rather than the future, and called the Mombasa-to-Lamu corridor one of the most commercially compelling stretches of coastline in the world, one that has lacked a single unified protected digital infrastructure system.
For Kenya, a main attraction is diversity of routes. Most international cables converge at Mombasa. LuLu’s Mombasa landing will connect the coastal system to the global internet backbone from the start, giving every landing station access to existing submarine cables at the port city. It also extends high-capacity infrastructure north toward emerging industrial and logistics locations, and reports link it to the wider LAPSSET corridor, the transport and development project running from Lamu.
George Olaka, Country Head of ARISE IIP Kenya, said direct submarine cable connectivity would strengthen Vipingo SEZ’s ability to attract digital businesses alongside manufacturers. That points to the wider goal of using better connectivity to draw data centres, cloud services and technology-dependent industries to the coast.
The project comes as Kenya seeks to reinforce its position as a regional digital hub, with other undersea cable initiatives also reported. Analysts note that delivery depends on financing, permits, cable manufacture and marine installation, all of which take time.
If completed on schedule, LuLu could improve reliability and speed for coastal businesses, governments and telecom operators, and support the growth of a digital economy along the Mombasa-Lamu corridor.
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