Kenyan President William Ruto looks on during opening remarks during his state visit, aimed at deepening economic, political, and strategic ties, at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, June 4, 2026. Image @ REUTERS/Alet Pretorius
East Africa is on the cusp of a major leap in internet connectivity after the European Union committed €37 million to extend a Google-backed undersea cable system into the region, a deal struck during high-level talks in Brussels that underscores Europe’s intensifying push to shape Africa’s digital future.
Kenyan President William Ruto, who secured the funding during meetings with European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, said the project will “strengthen connectivity, lower bandwidth costs, and reinforce Kenya’s position as a leading regional digital hub.” The cable extension forms part of a broader €139 million digital investment package announced during Ruto’s visit, which also included €102 million under the EU–Kenya Digital Partnership to accelerate digital transformation, expand connectivity and create employment opportunities in the technology sector.
The undersea infrastructure at the centre of the deal is the Blue-Raman system, a Google-backed subsea network developed in partnership with Italian telecommunications firm Sparkle and unveiled in 2021. Spanning roughly 12,700 kilometres, the network was engineered to create a new high-capacity digital route connecting Europe and India through the Middle East, bypassing some of the world’s most congested internet chokepoints. Under its original design, the Blue segment links Italy, France, Greece and Israel, while the Raman segment connects Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman and India. The East African extension will push that corridor further south, giving Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia and Djibouti direct access to one of the newest and fastest international data routes in operation.
The EU has described the project as a cornerstone of its EU-Africa-India Digital Corridor initiative, a programme aimed at building secure and resilient digital links between Europe, Africa and Asia. The investment is channelled through Brussels’ Global Gateway programme, its flagship infrastructure drive through which Europe is competing with China and other global powers for strategic influence over Africa’s next phase of development — one increasingly defined by data rather than commodities.
The timing is significant. East Africa has endured a string of damaging undersea cable outages over the past two years, exposing the fragility of a region dependent on a small number of international routes. Damage to the PEACE cable in March 2025 disrupted internet traffic across parts of Africa and Asia, while earlier failures affecting the EASSy and SEACOM systems caused widespread connectivity blackouts across multiple East African countries. Industry analysts say the arrival of additional cable systems is no longer a luxury but a strategic necessity, as demand driven by cloud computing, video streaming and artificial intelligence continues to surge.
Lower bandwidth costs are among the most eagerly anticipated benefits. Broadband affordability remains a persistent constraint across East Africa despite years of investment, with prices continuing to lag well behind international targets. Research published in June 2025 by the Foundation for Studies and Research on International Development found that doubling international connectivity capacity can produce significant reductions in both mobile and fixed broadband prices — a finding that lends economic weight to the EU’s investment case.
Ruto said the investments would reinforce Kenya’s position as a leading digital hub in Africa, noting progress under the EU–Kenya Digital Partnership on the Digital Dialogue and the Data Adequacy process, which he said “will strengthen digital trade, attract investment, and enhance Kenya’s position as a leading digital hub and the world’s 11th-ranked Business Process Outsourcing destination.”
On the sidelines of the Brussels forum, Ruto also presided over the launch of the Kenya–Benelux Chamber of Commerce and challenged Belgian manufacturers to move beyond extracting Africa’s raw materials, telling investors: “Do not buy Africa’s raw materials to add value elsewhere. Come and build with us.”
For East Africa as a whole, the Blue-Raman extension carries implications well beyond cheaper internet bills. As the region’s economies become increasingly driven by fintech, artificial intelligence, cloud services and cross-border digital trade, control over reliable, high-capacity international data routes is fast becoming as strategically vital as ports, highways and power grids — and the race to secure that infrastructure is now firmly under way.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah