South Sudan has announced a 2,400 kilometre national fibre optic network that would connect the landlocked country to the Indian Ocean through Kenya, with construction targeted to begin in December. The plan, revealed by Telecommunications Undersecretary Thomas Gatkuoth at a digital governance panel in Lusaka, would shift the country away from expensive satellite connectivity and toward a terrestrial backbone that supports e-government, education, health, and enterprise services.
“We will be connected very soon by December,” Gatkuoth said, adding that initial works would start at the Kenyan border and proceed toward Juba. Tech sector outlets recorded the same headline figures and policy objectives, suggesting a concerted communications push by Juba’s ICT leadership.
Regional backbones and cross-border links
For a country still building basic ICT institutions, the signalling matters. In June the ministry’s steering committee approved more than 9 million US dollars for design activities, a step that indicates workstreams on detailed engineering, environmental and social safeguards, and procurement packaging are underway. Regulators have also disclosed early implementation progress, citing more than 100 kilometres of fibre already laid in southern states, although these appear to be segments rather than a contiguous backbone.
Prior regional integration blueprints envisioned a 957 kilometre Eldoret to Juba corridor through Nadapal, which would provide one of the essential cross-border spurs required to reach submarine landing points. Project sponsors have repeatedly linked the new build to World Bank support, which is consistent with recent Bank documentation on digital connectivity and cybersecurity capacity in South Sudan.
The route choice is not a trivial detail. Linking into Kenya’s national fibre grid would allow access to multiple submarine systems landed at Mombasa, which spreads resilience and reduces single point failure risks during outages. Scenario analysis suggests a staged deployment could prioritise the Nimule to Juba axis to unlock early demand, then proceed northwest to Wau and Malakal where public services and logistics hubs would anchor traffic.
The long distances will test civil works logistics, right of way acquisition, and security coordination along corridors that traverse flood plains and areas with intermittent road access. Costs per kilometre can escalate quickly when bridges, culverts, or bore crossings are required, so engineering value management will be critical.
Funding structure and execution risks
Financing and delivery structure will shape outcomes as much as route design. Government has referenced development partner funding and a universal service agenda, but the economics of long-haul fibre often improve with open-access rules, regulated wholesale tariffs, and co-build agreements that let mobile operators and tower companies share ducts and maintenance. Investors may want to watch for whether Juba adopts a single-buyer wholesale model or a multiseller regime with published reference offers, since each model implies different risk allocation on demand, currency, and maintenance. If cross-border interconnection agreements lock in quality of service, and if permitting timelines are enforced, backhaul prices can fall, which tends to translate into lower retail data costs over time.
Timing will be the key constraint. Officials have offered an ambitious start date and a long route length, yet the current disclosures still centre on design budgets and leadership meetings. A practical near-term milestone would be tender issuance for the first construction lots, accompanied by wayleave registries and environmental approvals that are public and auditable. In parallel, integrating this build with East African internet exchange points and domestic data centre plans would help translate physical fibre into measurable improvements in latency, reliability, and price. The narrative is now clearer than it was a year ago. Delivery will prove it.