Saint Helena's Broadband Story — International Cable Success, Failed Domestic Fibre, and a 2026 Restart

Google's Equiano submarine cable added a 1,140 km branch to the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena (population approximately 5,298), landing in 2021 and going live on 1 October 2023. It cut round-trip latency to London from 657 milliseconds to 131 milliseconds, ending the island's total reliance on satellite internet.
A parallel £3 million contract with contractor Maestro Technologies, signed in November 2022 to build a domestic fibre-to-the-home network by December 2023, collapsed after the contractor "never produced a final design," according to St Helena Government. The government had already spent £678,733 before terminating the contract, confirmed publicly by Minister Brookes in June 2024.
As of 2024, only around 10% of the Equiano cable's 100 Gbps capacity was in use, and most residents remained on ageing copper lines delivering well under 10 Mbps — far short of international broadband benchmarks.
In September 2026, St Helena Government signed a memorandum of understanding with incumbent operator Sure, funded through the UK's Economic Development Investment Programme, for a 300+ Mbps fixed-wireless-access and mobile-network upgrade. Deployment is targeted for early 2027 with service expected by mid-2027; unlike the failed 2022 contract, the new equipment will be publicly owned by St Helena Government rather than the operator.

Read the full analysis: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/googles-equiano-cable-branch-to-saint-helena-activated/