How the Mediterranean and African hubs are improving low-latency access and route diversity

This is part 1 of our blog series where we explore the role of subsea cables in global data transfer and how they attract connectivity ecosystems that are evolving to meet cloud and AI demands.

As artificial intelligence (AI) changes how businesses operate and cloud growth continues to shape global networking, network leaders today manage massive amounts of data transfer. AI is driving higher infrastructure capacities, more acute performance sensitivity, and the distributed movement of data. S&P Global Market Intelligence says that the increase in bandwidth is making digital infrastructure more advanced. Submarine cables, in turn, are being developed to support this growth in global data traffic.¹

Most intercontinental internet traffic travels on submarine cables (subsea cables) and businesses continue to expand services across regions to accommodate a growing global customer base. As a result, data transmission goals, data residency restrictions, and cost control all follow suit. In response, the fast expanding (and evolving) ecosystem of service providers are adding sites in more metros to cut the last-mile distance.

Distance matters for latency, but for enterprise leaders the goal is to land where the ecosystem is deepest. For future-focused leaders, resilience is key, especially as enterprises strive to avoid the ramifications of downtime. IT and network architecture teams require ecosystem diversity as their business demands increase workflow needs.

Now more than ever, submarine cables are increasingly landing directly in data centers in developing digital hubs. As data centers act as a magnet for enterprise innovation, network providers, and the fabric that connects them globally.

How submarine cable networks support modern enterprise IT goals

A typical submarine cable path traverses the depths of the ocean, providing trans-oceanic connectivity. It then reaches a coastal landing site. From there, it connects to inland metro hubs. This is where it joins the connectivity ecosystem.

Submarine cable systems are adding capacity and alternate routes, including new routes in the Mediterranean and Africa. This is happening as a young digital population expands and reshapes the demand for AI and the cloud. This type of connectivity growth gives enterprise IT leaders more locations to enter in-region.

Landings near a carrier-neutral data center facility create a magnetic pull. As subsmarine cables land in a data center, network service providers can now directly access this global data transfer. Backhaul gets shorter, installs get faster, and pricing is more transparent. Network leaders have the added benefit of adding ports, routes, and partners without a redesign.

Design choices network leaders own:

Set end-to-end latency targets for each route and workload, and agree on an availability target of 99.999% or higher.
Ask your carrier or carriers to show the paths that meet those goals and to prove diversity across different terrestrial and subsea routes.
Pick a data center in a metro with a broad connectivity ecosystem so you can add or drop routes and carriers as needs shift.
Keep capacity flexible so the same setup lets you scale up or down without a redesign.

From building to platform: How modern data centers fuel interconnection

Carrier-neutral colocation facilities have evolved from space and power to neutral platforms that shorten the distance from the coast to your interconnection hub. In practice, termination can sit hundreds of miles inland in a data center, while coastal power systems remain at shore. This separation accelerates installs and supports consistent latency.

Modern connectivity hubs bring a broad connectivity ecosystem into the metro. They're the starting point for short, diverse routes from the coastal landing site, making it easy to reach cloud on-ramps, long-haul, and metro backhaul.

When submarine cables land in a carrier-neutral colocation facility, this reduces friction versus an incumbent landing-party model. It also concentrates interconnection and lowers total delivered cost over the system’s life.

The strategic significance of Mediterranean and African interconnection hubs

Why these interconnection hubs matter now

AI growth, cloud expansion, and shifting geopolitical tensions are changing long-haul routing. Submarine cables are adding new landing stations across the Mediterranean and Africa. This creates new coastal entry points and more ways to reach a growing population with low-latency internet and digital-based services.

When those landings sit near a carrier-neutral data center, the ecosystem expands with enhanced connectivity into a fabric ecosystem. This makes cross-connects and integration with diverse networks and platforms more accessible.

The planning goal is to pair route diversity at sea with coastal landing site diversity on land, then interconnect in metros that give network leaders diversity of provider choice.

Mediterranean overview: Marseille as a blueprint

Over the past decade, Marseille has evolved from a transit location to a cloud and content delivery network hub as new systems come ashore. It's an example of what happens when multiple submarine cables meet a neutral hub. Landings from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia feed a dense mix of carriers, clouds, and enterprises. The result is shorter paths into core EU markets, more options around chokepoints, and faster turn-ups inside facilities designed for interconnection at scale.

The same pattern is taking shape in other Mediterranean metros, including Barcelona, Rome, Athens, and Crete. For enterprise network leaders, a consistent colocation partner, like Digital Realty, across these cities simplifies contracting. It also helps keep service levels aligned and makes it easier to build true multi—coastal landing site diversity.

Africa: New coastal gateways, new business routes

New West African and Indian Ocean systems are adding fresh landings and branches in Nigeria and Kenya. That growth lifts design capacity, shortens paths to Europe and the Middle East, and gives teams more options to land on different coastal landing sites within the same metro.

Lagos is emerging as a strategic West African landing and interconnection hub. Digital Realty’s expansion there adds neutral meet-me environments that bring cable interconnection closer to customers and partners in the region.

On the Indian Ocean side, Mombasa anchors East Africa’s growth. In both cities, Digital Realty supports access to newer submarine cable systems through its network partners. This means submarine cables can land at the coast, interconnect inland with predictable latency, and extend on multiple onward paths. These are point connections today rather than a single connected campus, yet they tie into broader ecosystems through carrier backhaul and partner networks.

Future trends, challenges, and what they mean for network leaders

AI and cloud keep pushing capacity and new builds

AI training, edge inference, and steady cloud growth drive sustained demand for more international bandwidth. Submarine cable systems are scaling to meet it, with new systems and route diversity rising to the top of planning checklists.

Geopolitics is reshaping routes and risk maps

Route maps now reflect more than physics and price. Geopolitics, supply chains, and resilience targets influence where a submarine cable system lands, how it navigates chokepoints, and which coastal landing site pairs and inland rings keep failure domains independent.

Mediterranean and African hubs step forward

The Mediterranean and Africa are moving from the far edges of the map to central waypoints for interconnection. New landing points and metro buildouts shorten paths between Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, while creating fresh options for transoceanic diversity.

In West Africa, Lagos continues to mature as a regional connectivity hub. In East Africa, Mombasa’s role grows as more systems come ashore and are handed off to carrier backhaul into partner-rich metros. Digital Realty’s touchpoints in Lekki, Lagos, and Mombasa give teams concrete places to anchor designs.

Choosing a data center that offers carrier neutrality and flexibility

These are the characteristics network leaders should look for as they expand their points of business and their network capacity globally:

Coastal landing site on-site or integrated into the data center, with neutral and secure termination and interconnection in the same building so the ecosystem forms around it.
Density in one building, a broad connectivity ecosystem under one roof for fewer handoffs and faster turn-ups.
True metro diversity, separate fiber entries, independent meet-me rooms, and distinct terrestrial rings from each coastal landing site to the building.
Operational clarity, documented cable plant, clear interconnection service levels and predictable timelines.
Room to grow, spare ports, cross-connect capacity, and space and power headroom.

How Digital Realty and PlatformDIGITAL® support global interconnection

Subsea cables and colocation data centers remain critical to enterprise success worldwide. Our extensive network and local expertise can help you navigate this dynamic environment and get more value from submarine cables and global interconnection.

By leveraging our global fabric, optimized as an open ecosystem, you gain access to diverse connectivity options and partners, empowering your business to scale and innovate without boundaries.

Let’s validate your network needs and resilience plan. Talk with a Digital Realty solutions architect to map end-to-end routes, confirm diverse terrestrial and subsea paths, and align on availability targets in your priority metros.

¹S&P Global Market Intelligence, The state of datacenter modernization in an AI-driven world, April, 2025

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