The East African submarine cable landscape reached a defining milestone today as LuLu, the Kenyan coast’s first fully protected coastal cable system, was announced at ITW Africa 2026. The LuLu Coastal Cable System is a submarine cable designed to strengthen connectivity along Kenya’s 500km Indian Ocean coast, linking five strategic landing points from Mombasa to Lamu, including Vipingo SEZ, Kilifi and Malindi. It is an integrated system combining a submarine cable running along the Indian Ocean seabed with a parallel, protected terrestrial pathway -engineered to deliver the highest levels of resilience, redundancy, and availability that mission-critical industries, governments, and international operators demand.
Co-developed by INDOI Ltd (IOX) – the Mauritius-headquartered ICT infrastructure developer, Blue Trade Investments Limited (Blue Trade), a Kenyan-investment company, ARISE IIP – the developer and operator of Vipingo Special Economic Zone (VSEZ), Kenya’s $3 billion industrial-digital special economic zone, AfriTrade Consulting Group, and Kingdom Bank, the system will use DWDM technology in the 1550nm window, with 144 fibres and a design capacity of up to 60 Tbps per fibre pair. Its dual-path protection architecture – submarine and terrestrial running in parallel – delivers the levels of resilience that international cable systems, data centre operators, and enterprise customers require as a baseline operating condition. It is designed for a 25-year operational life, with centralised network management, and is expected to be ready for service in Q2 2028, subject to contract execution.
Arunachalam Kandasamy, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of INDOI Ltd, said: “This is a moment I have been building towards since the day INDOI was founded. East Africa is not a market of the future -it is a market of right now. Kenya’s coastal corridor, from Mombasa to Lamu, is one of the most dynamic, strategically significant, and commercially compelling stretches of coastline on the planet. And yet, until today, it has never had a single, unified, fully protected digital infrastructure system designed specifically for it. LuLu changes that. Permanently”.
The powerful coalition involved in LuLu’s development represents a convergence of infrastructure expertise, financial capability, regulatory depth, and industrial zone development experience that is uniquely equipped to execute a project of this scale, complexity, and strategic significance for the Kenyan coast and East Africa at large.
Underpinning the project on the ground is Blue Trade, INDOI’s Kenya-registered infrastructure partner, the designated cable landing party, regulatory interface, and operational delivery partner for LuLu in Kenya. Blue Trade’s established relationships with Kenya’s regulatory authorities, coastal communities, and government institutions provide the critical local foundation upon which INDOI’s regional infrastructure vision is built and sustained.
The LuLu landing at Vipingo SEZ is the catalyst for a broader transformation. Direct submarine cable connectivity within the SEZ boundary unlocks investment categories that manufacturing infrastructure alone cannot attract: hyperscale data centres, cloud service provider regional nodes, BPO and Global Business Services campuses, FinTech and payment processing platforms, cybersecurity operations centres, and IoT-driven smart manufacturing services.
George Olaka, Country Head of ARISE IIP Kenya, said: “Vipingo SEZ was never intended to be a conventional industrial zone. We are building it as a platform where industry, logistics, value addition and digital infrastructure can reinforce each other. The LuLu cable system adds an important dimension to that vision. Direct, resilient submarine cable connectivity within the zone strengthens VSEZ’s ability to attract not only manufacturers, but also the digital and technology-driven businesses that increasingly sit at the centre of modern industry. We are pleased to be part of this partnership and believe LuLu can help position Kenya’s Coast as both an industrial and digital growth corridor for the region.”
LuLu does not simply serve Vipingo SEZ’s existing tenants -it qualitatively expands the universe of investors that VSEZ can credibly recruit. It is the difference between an industrial zone and a digital city. And it is why INDOI, Blue Trade Investments Ltd, and ARISE IIP have come together around a shared conviction: that Vipingo SEZ, with LuLu as its digital backbone, will become one of the most compelling investment destinations on the African continent.
Anthony Mburu, Managing Director and CEO, Kingdom Bank Limited, said, “Blue Trade Investments Limited is a valued client of Kingdom Bank, and we are pleased to support its growth and expansion. The LuLu Cable System highlights the increasing importance of digital infrastructure in driving investment, connectivity and economic activity along Kenya’s Coast. We welcome Blue Trade’s participation in the initiative and the opportunities it presents for the region.”
Dr. Caroline Saroni, CEO and Executive Director of AfriTrade Consulting Group, said: “A project of LuLu’s ambition succeeds only when vision is matched by careful execution — the regulatory, licensing and commercial groundwork that turns a bold idea into a bankable, deliverable reality. That is the work AfriTrade has been proud to lead from the outset, introducing VSEZ and INDOI and advising both sides, alongside our sister law firm S&S Advocates, on transaction structuring, regulatory clearance, compliance, and onboarding that underpin a system of this scale and significance”.
She added: “LuLu is exactly the kind of infrastructure Africa needs — resilient, purpose-built, and capable of unlocking real investment along Kenya’s Coast, at Vipingo SEZ, and across the LAPSSET corridor. We congratulate INDOI and the entire coalition, and we look forward to the transformation it will bring to the region”.
LuLu’s Mombasa landing connects the entire coastal system to the global internet backbone from day one -giving every LuLu landing station, and every tenant and operator they serve, seamless access to existing submarine cables landed in Mombasa, and beyond.
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