Seacom has secured backhaul capacity through Kenya Data Networks (KDN) and its Uganda partner, Infocom, to be able to go live in Uganda and Rwanda on launch date.

"As we speak, the link between Kampala and Mombasa (1,250 km) at the Kenyan coast is in place through our partnership with KDN and its Ugandan partner," Herlihy said. Seacom plans to build landing stations in Kampala and Kigali, Rwanda.

Herlihy said capacity will be carried to Rwanda via microwave link but that Seacom is interested in entering a capacity agreement with any one of the telcos in Uganda and Rwanda building a terrestrial fiber-optic cable.

Seacom has finished work on all its cable landing stations and the ships are now motoring down the Indian Ocean burying the cable.