Internet connectivity in East Africa set to improve

Business Reporter—
LIQUID Telecom has completed construction of a network fibre ring that connects five East African countries to the world, a development likely to improve Internet connectivity in the region.The East Africa Fibre Ring connects Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and back into Kenya, creating the first fully redundant regional fibre ring, connecting these countries to each other and the rest of the world, Nic Rudnick, CEO of the Liquid Telecom Group said in a statement.

“Customers will immediately start to feel the benefits from our $20 million investment in the region.
The completion of the East Africa Fibre ring takes us another step towards building Africa’s digital future and giving better value for everyone using our network,” Mr Rudnick said.

“This will ensure that businesses across the East African community now receive continuity of Internet connectivity and a much more reliable service,” he said.
The East Africa Fibre Ring will ensure that Liquid Telecom customers will not be affected by fibre cuts, which have blighted users in Burundi, DRC, Uganda, and Rwanda up to now.

Network outages will no longer cause long periods of down-time when businesses cannot connect to the internet.
“For the first time, in the event of a fibre cut, internet traffic is automatically and instantly re-routed around the ring, giving consistently high speeds and continuous uptime for businesses and their customers, ensuring business continuity across the region,” he said.

The new ring ensures more reliability and security of data connectivity, internet and business services.
“This pioneering achievement will add value to east African businesses and enable online trade within the East African community and globally, with reliable connectivity comparable to anywhere else in the world,” Mr Rudnick said.

The new fibre ring forms part of Liquid Telecom’s Pan-African fibre network, the largest single fibre network on the continent, spanning more than 17 000km across country borders and connecting areas where no fixed network has existed before.

The completion of the ring is just the latest in a series of major achievements for multi-award-winning Liquid Telecom, a development hailed by the secretary general of the East African Community, the regional intergovernmental organisation of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, Amb. Dr Richard Sezibera said.

“This is a huge milestone for East Africa. By providing our nations with a 21st century broadband network that directly connects us to each other and the outside world, Liquid Telecom continues to help the economic development of our region,” said Dr Sezibera.

Liquid Telecom is an independent data, voice and IP provider in eastern, central and southern Africa.
Working under various brands, the Liquid Telecom Group has operating entities in Botswana, DRC, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, UK, Zambia and Zimbabwe.