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Noble Ncube, Business Reporter
LANDLOCKED African countries will get cheaper internet after construction of a 10 000-kilometre subsea cable linking Africa to the Middle East with onwards connectivity to Europe by Liquid Telecom.
In a statement, the leading independent data and voice provider said the project had begun. Liquid Telecom Group chief executive officer Nic Rudnick confirmed that the Request for Tender had been issued to international companies involved in the construction of submarine cables.
The statement further said Liquid Sea, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liquid Telecom, will run a subsea cable of approximately 10 000km from South Africa to the Middle East. It will be connected to Liquid Telecom’s pan-African terrestrial network, enabling a reliable and affordable international connectivity service to landlocked and coastal countries in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa. The project is already fully funded and it is estimated that it will take two years to complete.
Liquid Sea will offer speeds of 20-30Tbps, up to 10 times the capacity of existing submarine cables in the region.
“The Liquid Sea project reaffirms our commitment to building Africa’s digital future and removing any bottlenecks in providing the fastest and most reliable access to the internet to every single African on the continent.
The impact of Liquid Sea will be a far more reliable and ultra-fast connection for governments, businesses, schools and homes in both coastal and land-locked countries across Africa,” said Rudnick.
The new submarine cable is expected to directly connect all coastal countries along the east coast of Africa and to provide new connectivity to the Middle-East and Europe. The project will include landing stations in several ports that are currently not served by existing subsea cables. It will also leverage Liquid Telecom’s extensive terrestrial fibre network, the largest network of its kind in Africa, to provide onward connectivity to landlocked countries on the continent.
In the same statement, Liquid Telecom’s Group chief strategy officer, David Eurin said the project will provide a step change in the way internet connectivity was regarded in Africa.
“We will be able to leverage the new submarine cable and our terrestrial network to improve our offerings to carriers, enterprise customers and households throughout the continent. It is of utmost importance to us to create equal opportunities to people living both in coastal and landlocked countries, the latter being too often forgotten in large international projects of this kind,” said Eurin.
International transfers enable Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to access off-continent content at a cheaper price without having to pay substantial exchange fees on different networks.
Currently, Liquid Telecom’s fibre network spans 20 000km across Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe and is complemented by its award-winning satellite service for rural areas.
In Zimbabwe Liquid Telecom has rings of self-healing fibre in Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare and Victoria Falls. It also has direct customer links totaling 1 600km of fibre. Liquid Telecom is the first in Zimbabwe, and one of the first on the continent to implement fibre using the a new technology of fibre called Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Networks (GPON).
Liquid Telecom’s terrestrial fibre network is the largest single, contiguous network that crosses many borders in Africa. It is complemented by an award-winning satellite service for rural and remote areas. Liquid Telecom has recently been named the Best African Wholesale Carrier for the fourth consecutive year at the Global Carrier Awards.
derick.khumalo