Paratus Group has officially launched its Goma-to-Mombasa (G2M) 2,000km fibre route in partnership with Roke Telkom, a major milestone that will significantly improve how East and Central Africa connect across borders.
Connecting the coastal hub of Mombasa directly to Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Paratus has created a protected, high-capacity digital corridor that bypasses regional bottlenecks. The route passes through key economic centres, including Nairobi, Kampala, and Kigali, directly linking to major carrier-neutral data centres in each city to ensure smooth, low-latency data transfer.
The G2M route addresses the rising need for network resilience and redundancy by offering a terrestrial alternative that connects inland markets directly to global sub-sea cable capacity at the Kenyan coast. This provides wholesale carriers, ISPs, and enterprises with a reliable link that complements Paratus existing East-West Africa backbone.
The launch of the Ugandan node confirms the vital role of Roke Telkom as a strategic connectivity and infrastructure partner, supplying the local expertise needed to support the highway in a key market.
Roke Cloud, a sister company of Roke Telkom, collocated at Raxio Uganda, offers carrier-neutral infrastructure for maximum flexibility, cloud adjacency, and enterprise-grade uptime, ensuring swift access to the core network and seamless interconnection between fibre, Data Centres, and cloud platforms. Roke Investments, as a joint venture partner, enhances Paratus Uganda’s local credibility and visibility, positioning Uganda as a key node in the group’s broader continental expansion.
Speaking on the technical significance of the launch, Peter Muhumuza, Chief Technical Officer, Roke Telkom, emphasised that physical fibre is only half of the equation. “Building long-distance fibre cables is only the first step,” he said. “The real value comes when we connect that fibre to strategically placed data centres. While routes like the G2M provide the basic digital highway, it’s our neutral, cloud-ready environments like Roke Cloud that actually make businesses more resilient.”
Muhumuza noted that for companies in East Africa, this partnership makes it easier to adopt cloud technology and keep data local. This ensures the internet isn’t just fast, but also a more secure way to get business done.
Martin Cox, Chief Commercial Officer at Paratus, states, this is far more than another fibre link; it is a new digital highway for the region while emphasising that the protected route from the coast into Goma gives operators and enterprises direct, reliable access to global capacity.
For years, Uganda has navigated a complex landscape of connectivity challenges that have slowed its digital growth. Despite a growing fibre network, many Ugandans, especially in rural areas, remain offline due to the high cost of data and smartphones, which are often taxed as luxury items.
As a landlocked country, Uganda also pays extra to rent space on subsea cables from coastal neighbours, driving up prices for end users. Beyond the physical infrastructure, frequent hurdles like unreliable electricity and limited digital literacy mean that even when a signal is available, many cannot afford or don’t know how to use it. These factors have created a persistent digital divide, where reliable, high-speed internet often remains a privilege for those in major cities rather than a tool for everyone.
Now active and carrying traffic, the G2M route supports an East African region forecasted by Euromonitor to contribute 29% of Africa’s GDP by 2040. It offers governments, NGOs, and private sector players a robust digital foundation for faster access to international networks, improving cross-border trade and fintech activities, and providing protection against frequent outages affecting coastal-only connections.
As Paratus continues expanding across Africa, the G2M route exemplifies the impact of high-stakes infrastructure combined with strong local partnerships.
