Umoja

The Umoja subsea cable system is the first ever fiber optic route to directly connect Africa with Australia, linking Australia to South Africa via subsea cable, and onwards to Kenya via terrestrial cable.

The Umoja cable route passes through Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, including the Google Cloud region, before crossing the Indian Ocean to Australia.

Umoja is the Swahili word for unity.

The Umoja cable system is part of Google's Africa Connect initiative, which now includes Umoja and Equiano cable systems. 

Google has collaborated with Liquid Intelligent Technologies on Umoja’s terrestrial path, formimg a highly scalable route through Africa, including access points that will allow other countries to take advantage of the network.

Google has selected SubCom to manufacture and install the submarine component of the Umoja cable sytem. 

Umoja will enable African countries to more reliably connect with each other and the rest of the world. Establishing a new route distinct from existing connectivity routes is critical to maintaining a resilient network for a region that has historically experienced high-impact outages.