Kenya has unveiled the LuLu Coastal Cable System, a planned submarine and terrestrial digital infrastructure project designed to strengthen connectivity along the country’s 500-kilometre Indian Ocean coastline from Mombasa to Lamu.
The system was announced at ITW Africa 2026 in Nairobi by Mauritius-headquartered INDOI Ltd and its partners, including Blue Trade Investments Limited, ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms, AfriTrade Consulting Group and Kingdom Bank.
The project will connect five landing points — Mombasa, Vipingo Special Economic Zone, Kilifi, Malindi and Lamu.
LuLu is planned as a dual-path system, combining a submarine cable running along the seabed with a parallel protected terrestrial route.
According to the developers, the architecture is designed to provide greater redundancy and resilience in the event of disruption to either route.
The system will use dense wavelength division multiplexing technology in the 1550-nanometre window, with 144 fibre pairs and a design capacity of up to 60 terabits per second per fibre pair.
It is designed for a 25-year operational life and centralised network management, with the developers targeting readiness for service in the second quarter of 2028, subject to contract execution.
The September 2026 announcement represents the launch of the project, rather than completion or commissioning of the cable.
INDOI founder and Chief Executive Officer Arunachalam Kandasamy said the project was intended to address a digital infrastructure gap along Kenya’s coastal corridor.
Blue Trade Investments, INDOI’s Kenya-registered partner, will serve as the cable landing party, regulatory interface and local operational delivery partner.
A major part of the project is its planned landing at Vipingo Special Economic Zone, where the developers say direct submarine connectivity could support data centres, cloud-service nodes, business-process outsourcing operations, fintech platforms, cybersecurity centres and digitally enabled manufacturing.
George Olaka, country head of ARISE IIP Kenya, said the cable would add a digital dimension to Vipingo SEZ’s industrial ambitions.
The zone is being developed as an industrial and digital platform with potential to mobilise up to $3 billion in investment.
Kingdom Bank Chief Executive Officer Anthony Mburu said the project highlighted the growing importance of digital infrastructure to investment and economic activity along Kenya’s coast.
AfriTrade Consulting Group CEO Caroline Saroni said effective regulatory, licensing and commercial execution would be essential to the project’s delivery.
LuLu’s planned Mombasa landing is also expected to connect the coastal system to existing international submarine cable infrastructure serving the city.
If completed as planned, the system would provide a high-capacity digital backbone linking coastal communities, industrial zones and businesses from Mombasa towards Lamu.
