The East African Marine System (TEAMS)

Overview

The East African Marine System (TEAMS) is a submarine cable system spanning 5,054 kilometres, connecting Kenya and the United Arab Emirates. The system serves the corridor between East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, providing a direct link across the western Indian Ocean between these two countries.

Route and Landings

In Kenya, TEAMS lands at Mombasa, the country's principal coastal city and a well-established landing point for submarine infrastructure serving the East African region.

In the United Arab Emirates, the cable lands at Fujairah, a coastal emirate on the Gulf of Oman that serves as a significant concentration point for submarine cable infrastructure linking the region to broader international networks.

Ownership and Operators

TEAMS is owned by TEAMS Ltd. and e&. e& (formerly Etisalat) is the UAE-headquartered telecommunications operator with a wide presence across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The two-party ownership structure reflects the bilateral nature of the cable's route.

Status and Timeline

TEAMS entered service in 2009, making it one of the earlier dedicated submarine cable links between East Africa and the Arabian Gulf.

Regional Context

The Kenya–UAE corridor has seen considerable growth in submarine cable investment since TEAMS became ready for service. Later systems serving overlapping endpoints include the Europe India Gateway (EIG, 2011), IMEWE (2010), PEACE Cable (2022), 2Africa (2024), and the forthcoming SeaMeWe-6 (planned 2026), all of which either pass through or terminate in the United Arab Emirates. Among cables directly connecting both Kenya and the UAE, TEAMS predates PEACE Cable and 2Africa by more than a decade, reflecting the early development phase of East African subsea connectivity.

Performance measurements over the past 60 days, based on 106 ping tests, record an average round-trip latency of 297.0 milliseconds on this cable, with a best recorded value of 220.5 milliseconds.

Strategic Role

TEAMS provides a direct submarine pathway between Mombasa and Fujairah, supporting connectivity between Kenya and the United Arab Emirates across a 5,054-kilometre span. As one of two landing points each represent national gateways — Mombasa for Kenya's coastal and inland traffic, and Fujairah for onward connections across the Arabian Peninsula — the cable facilitates bilateral data exchange between the two countries on this corridor.