Submarine Telecoms Forum

1.8 min read LuLu, a planned coastal submarine cable system for Kenya, was announced at ITW Africa 2026 as a route along the country’s Indian Ocean shoreline. The system is designed to cover about 500km between Mombasa and Lamu, with five landing points identified along the corridor: Mombasa, Vipingo Special Economic Zone, Kilifi, Malindi and Lamu. The project is being advanced by INDOI Ltd. (IOX), Blue Trade Investments Limited, ARISE IIP, AfriTrade Consulting Group and Kingdom Bank.

1.8 min read A Russian captain and an Azerbaijani bosun from the cargo ship Fitburg went on trial in Helsinki District Court on September 8 over alleged damage to two subsea telecommunications cables linking Finland and Estonia. AFP, reporting through ET Telecom, said prosecutors charged the two seafarers with aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference with telecommunications. Both defendants deny the charges. Prosecutors are seeking prison terms of at least two years and six months.

1.9 min read Bangladesh is preparing regulatory amendments that would open licensing for new submarine cable systems to more private and international investment, according to a September 7 report by The Financial Express. The proposed framework would permit international-local partnerships and could move the country beyond a predominantly state-led connectivity model.

1.9 min read Vocus has confirmed a fault on its Australia-Singapore Cable, disrupting international internet and transmission services between Australia and Singapore and requiring affected traffic to be moved onto alternate routes. The incident was first disclosed on 4 September, when Vocus said affected wavelength and Ethernet products were down while internet traffic shifted onto backup paths.

1.8 min read Canalink has completed the first deployment phase of the Base4 submarine cable by landing it at Playa Honda on Lanzarote. The work forms part of Atlántica, the project previously known as the Gran Canaria-Fuerteventura-Lanzarote submarine ring.

1.8 min read The Scottish Government has started a feasibility study into possible options for a new subsea fibre route between mainland Scotland and the Shetland Islands. The work appears in the government’s five-year programme and is intended to examine how another cable could improve broadband and mobile resilience, as well as performance. The source material stresses that beginning a feasibility study does not amount to a firm decision to deploy an additional system.

1.8 min read The University of New Hampshire and its partners have deployed a cabled ocean observing system near the Isles of Shoals, adding a real-time research platform for the coastal Gulf of Maine off New Hampshire. The system sits 10 miles offshore and three miles east of Appledore Island. UNH says the deployment gives this region real-time transmission from a package of acoustic and oceanographic instruments for the first time, creating a new coastal monitoring capability.

1.8 min read Tersan Shipyard in Turkey has marked the keel-laying ceremony for InterOcean, a cable-laying vessel being constructed for LS Marine Solution. The source presents the event as the formal point at which the project moves into its construction stage. This is a progress update on shipbuilding rather than a delivery announcement, service-entry notice, or contract award. The confirmed facts are limited to the vessel name, the shipyard, the customer relationship, and the project stage.

1.8 min read MDC Data Centers says Columbia Capital has taken a minority position to finance its next growth phase in U.S. border markets and Mexico. The announcement links the investment to added capacity at existing border data centers, the planned Querétaro interconnection site, and future landing hubs in Cancún and Veracruz for the MANTA submarine cable.

1.8 min read Firmus and SUBCO have announced a trans-Pacific connectivity agreement that would make Firmus a cornerstone customer on SUBCO’s APX East submarine cable once the system is built. Firmus plans to invest approximately US$300 million and obtain up to 150Tbps of dedicated capacity for 25 years. The companies say the arrangement is intended to support AI training and inference by linking Firmus’ Australian AI Factory network with the United States and wider global markets.