Bayobab Launches Uganda’s Shortest Fibre Route, Connecting Kampala to Malaba

Bayobab Uganda  has announced the successful unveiling of its newest and shortest fibre optic route – the Uganda Railway National Long Distance (NLD) from Malaba to Kampala. Bayobab, an MTN Group company, is the digital infrastructure pillar of the Group and one of industry leaders revolutionising connectivity across the East African Corridor. This transformative infrastructure project reinforces MTN’s vision of delivering connectivity to all by expanding its fibre footprint across the markets in which it operates.

The strategic route spans 260 km from Kampala to Tororo, with an extension to Malaba, forming a critical link between Uganda and Kenya. Built between December 2024 and February 2025, this route delivers reliable, high-capacity connectivity from Uganda’s capital to Bayobab’s subsea cable landing stations in Mombasa and leveraging the recent launch of the Mombasa to Malaba/Busia fibre route in Kenya, completing East Africa’s digital backbone Kampala to Mombasa.

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony held in Kampala today, Juliet Nsubuga, the Managing Director of Bayobab Uganda said that Bayobab Uganda had heeded the call for technological transformation across the nation and the region to benefit its communities with reliable and accessible connectivity to the internet.

In collaboration with the Uganda Railway, we leveraged the existing rail network to deploy fibre, enhancing connectivity and providing high-speed internet access to communities along the line, connecting key routes between Kampala and Malaba at the Kenyan border – and beyond. This new route caters to the needs of international and national technology and digital players, as well as telecoms and ISPs that serve communities, demonstrating our commitment to connecting Africa.

– Juliet Nsubuga, Managing Director, Bayobab Uganda

As part of a broader infrastructure strategy, Bayobab fibre comes as a great addition to existing MTN fibre cables along the Busia–Jinja–Mabira–Kampala, Malaba–Kamuli–Kayunga–Jinja–Kampala, and Malaba–Tororo–Lira–Karuma–Masindi–Luweero–Kampala routes.

As a landlocked nation, Uganda’s access to high-speed internet and global digital infrastructure relies heavily on cross-border connectivity. This new route provides the shortest and newest connection from Kampala to the Kenya–Uganda border, leveraging the Bayobab Kenya infrastructure to reach Mombasa subsea landing points. The route serves as a powerful alternative to existing fibre systems, offering route diversity and significantly improved network reliability through low latency and increased resilience.

Ms Julianne Mweheire, the Director Industry Affairs and Content Development at Uganda Communications Commission welcomed the milestone. She stated that:

The new route adds to the existing fibre network, connecting Uganda to the Kenya border and should increase on the already existing redundancy of connectivity access for Uganda as a whole. This launch aligns perfectly with Uganda’s national agenda to digitise services, expand connectivity, and close the gap between urban and rural access.

– Ms Julianne Mweheire, the Director Industry Affairs and Content Development, Uganda Communications Commission

Sylvia Mulinge, the MTN Uganda CEO affirmed that the launch of the Kampala–Malaba Fiber Optic Route is a bold statement of MTN’s vision of ensuring that every Ugandan, wherever they live, experiences the benefits of a modern connected life.

Imagine a startup in Lira testing its mobile app on cloud platforms without delays. A farmer in Kayunga checking real-time weather patterns to guide planting decisions. A remote school in Kisoro livestreaming science lessons from a national university. This is what a modern connected life looks like, and this is what we are enabling.

– Sylvia Mulinge, CEO, MTN Uganda

Bayobab is building out pan-African fibre infrastructure to meet rising demand from telecom operators, internet service providers, and global technology firms. The new route supports over 1 terabyte (TB) of capacity and offers low-latency, high-redundancy connectivity to key data centres in Kampala. These include Raxio, Airtel House, and MTN Uganda, and enable improved and seamless interconnection options for service providers and hyperscalers.

Bayobab’s infrastructure opens up new opportunities for hyperscalers, cloud providers and enterprise customers to operate and invest in Uganda. Our continued investment in projects like this new route is a testament to our long-term goal of enabling Africa’s digital economy by connecting people, businesses, and markets across the continent.

• Bayobab Uganda, an MTN Group company, has unveiled its newest and shortest fibre optic route – from Malaba to Kampala, marking a significant expansion of digital infrastructure along the East African corridor.
• The 260-kilometre route, built between December 2024 and February 2025, connects the Ugandan capital to the Kenyan border and links directly to Bayobab’s subsea cable landing stations in Mombasa, Kenya.
• As a landlocked country, Uganda relies heavily on cross-border fibre links for international internet access implying that this launch aligns perfectly with its national agenda to digitize services, expand connectivity, and close the gap between urban and rural access.
• Bayobab is committed to its long-term goal of enabling Africa’s digital economy by connecting people, businesses, and markets across the continent.