BCS Group has completed its 400km-long Lake Tanganyika Submarine Cable Project, which is the deepest inland undersea fiber optic cable in the world.

The Pan-African wholesale telecom infrastructure provider made the disclosure at MWC Barcelona, the largest and most influential connectivity event held on March 3-7, 2025.

BCS Group’s Lake Tanganyika submarine cable reaches depths of 800 to 1,300 meters.

The project is set to boost internet connectivity, speed and affordability to seven million people in South Kivu Province (DRC) and 3.7 million people in Lake Tanganyika region.

This comes after BCS Group successfully installed submarine cables challenging underwater fiber deployments including in Lake Albert from 2018-2019 and the Congo River in 2022.

Read More

  1. Jambojet suspends Nairobi-Goma flights after M23 rebels claim to seize DRC city
  2. Kenya’s African exports hit Sh248.7 billion, climbing 26 per cent on robust trade ties
  3. 113 scholars secure global scholarships courtesy of Equity Leadership Program

The Pan-African company is currently operating under licenses in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, and Angola.

The Group also is also serving Burundi, South Sudan, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Ethiopia at their respective border points.

“As the heart of Africa and custodian of a majority of natural resources required to drive modern life, the development and prosperity of Congo is central to the development of our continent,” said BCS Group Founder and MD Yonas Maru.

He added: “The Lake Tanganyika submarine fiber cable combined with the 2,500 km of railroad and 2,000km of Congo river cables being deployed enables us to overcome the lack of road infrastructure in Congo to light up the “dark” continent, provide East across to West Africa connectivity and take a step towards leapfrogging the development ladder.”


BCS Group has been laying a 24-core single armored submarine cable in Lake Tanganyika, the longest lake in Africa (660km) and the second deepest lake in the world (1,436 meters).

The cable will link Northern DRC with Southeastern DRC, with the potential to expand to Tanzania and Burundi and was done in partnership with Airtel and other telecom operators.

BCS Group, which was founded in 2009, provides fiber connectivity solutions across Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa as well as resilient and redundant backhaul connectivity to mobile network operators and internet service providers across Africa.

The company boasts of a network spanning more than 80,000km and specializes in fiber optic construction, wholesale IP transit, and global and regional connectivity services.

It partners with top telecom operators among them Vodacom, Airtel, Orange and content providers like Meta to deliver cutting-edge connectivity that drive Africa’s digital economy.

BCS Group owns one of the largest terrestrial fiber networks in Africa which spans more than 20,000km across seven countries.

The network links Mombasa (Kenya) to the West Africa Cable System (WACS) via Muanda (DRC) and Luanda (Angola) providing fundamental internet capacity to landlocked countries.