adminconnectivity nearing completion and some already operational, this generation will be the first to access the Internet with real international speeds and a plus 99 percent uptime connectivity.
Almost every city across Zimbabwe has braved the cumbersome fibre trenching process by various players to achieve real broadband and international standards speeds for every user online. Some geeks have questioned the wisdom of having many guys trenching yet the whole nation can be carried out using one trenching Internet Access Provider but I think monopolising technology would be disastrous for fall back options and discourage competition and enhancements.
Imagine waking up one day to find the whole nation without access to the Internet because of a certain physical fault with our last mile service providers. I would hate to even imagine such a scenario, so let us just leave these giants to lock horns and the winner will be the people’s choice. Besides competition is the only sure force for quality.
Liquid Telecommunication is one company that exhibited at this year’s ICT Africa exhibition but it was not unnecessarily obnoxious especially when we weigh it against its serious contribution to the development of ICTs in Zimbabwe.
Liquid Telecom is an Internet Service Provider that provides international and national connectivity throughout Zimbabwe. It is an independent data, voice and IP provider, supplying wholesale fibre optic, satellite and international carrier services to telecommunications operators in developing countries. To date liquid Telecom has laid cables in excess of 4 500km in Zimbabwe.
It is a subsidiary of Econet Wireless, tasked with the responsibility of fibre connectivity across our small cities and towns to our neighbouring Southern African countries. They have successfully managed to interconnect our landlocked Zimbabwe with last mile fibre connectivity to the region and beyond.
Liquid Telecom’s goal is to create a fast, modern network that will keep the region on the move. In this regard, Liquid Telecom has built an MPLS core network that provides customers across the region with a high performance international network capable of linking them with their respective countries as well as to any country across the regional network and the world.
With the completion of all its projects, Liquid Telecom will have laid down in excess of 8 500km of fibre optic cable. This will be one of the largest single investments in telecommunications infrastructure across the Central/Southern African region. Approximately US$170 million has been pushed out to support this project.
I have been closely following up their great terrestrial fibre implantation that has spread its wings across our African region and this is the same visionary spirit that really puts Zimbabwe at the top of other regional players. Why should we solely depend on other countries for connectivity when we have our own untapped potential that could bring lasting solutions?
Liquid Telecom has completed major trunk connections including metro rings and local access in all the major towns in Zimbabwe. The same has been done in Zambia. Liquid also has optic fibre connectivity in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.
TechZim an online Zimbabwean technological website recently pulled up their terrestrial map running from South Africa, through Zimbabwe then Namibia and Mozambique distributing some feeds before it shoots out to Zambia. In Zambia it is reported the largest fibre project where the Zambia section was implemented by a company called CEC Liquid Telecom, in which Liquid Telecom and Copperbelt Energy Corporation have 50 percent interest.
Besides offering the last mile fibre connectivity, Liquid Telecom is offering Internet services on their Vsat platform of a whooping 400 kbps uploading speed and 2 Mbps downloading speed. A customer will have the latitude to choose any solution among the shared and dedicated packages on offer.
This service is also being offered to other ISPs and IAPs who do not have an extensive global network, this type of service is commonly called IP transit where the access provider only offers a tunnel to the internet. Liquid Telecom adds confidentiality and security with both local and international Virtual Private Network (VPN) which is a private tunnel created within the public infrastructure to make a virtual personal connection.
To date VPNs are among the most trusted robust encryption and safest way to seclude your confidential data from the risks posed by the Internet.
The question that has largely remained unanswered is why our Internet tariffs are still high and how much longer we will need to wait before sanity prevails. As for our speeds, it seems the real culprit is the Internet service providers who are constantly sharing end user bandwidth yet on paper we reflect other unattainable speeds.
Besides this dirty trick of shared bandwidth, real broadband speeds are still pricey that most ISPs, companies and business are forced to buy uncapped access but with limited download speeds. This has been a contributing factor why the click and go speeds will remain a mirage to the populace and yes we might probably need to wait a little longer before the game play really changes.
l The writer is a computing specialist and can be reached at [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Online Reporter