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Liquid Telecoms Zimbabwe, a subsidiary of Econet Wireless, says it has doubled the length of fibre optic cables it lays on a daily basis to 4 kilometres after investing $32 million in the project over the last five years.In a development that has created massive employment, the telecommunications firm has laid a total of 17 000km of broadband fibre optic cables spanning nine African countries.
“In building and growing our fibre structure in Zimbabwe, we have employed more than 50 local contractors and these are employing more than 5 000 employees and this is our role in facilitating employment,” said Liquid Telecom managing director Mr Wellington Makamure.
Liquid Telecom initially rolled out its fibre optic project in the Central Business District, connecting enterprises to its fast backbone cable boosting connectivity speeds with real broadband speeds.
It is the first Zimbabwean company to connect homes to fibre optic cables under its “fibre to home” project, which has seen many residential areas being connected to the company’s underground broadband network for faster connectivity.
Broadband is another term used for internet bandwidth or the amount of data sent through a connection to access high-speed Internet. The more bandwidth one has, the more information they can send or receive at any given time
Liquid is rolling its project to connect industries and other enterprises, towns and cities across the whole nation as it continues to expand its underground fibre optic cables in the country
More than 50 companies have so far been contracted to roll out the broadband fibre optic cables across the whole nation.
Liquid Telecom Zimbabwe contends that its investment has impacted economic growth in the country in a development that has helped alleviate poverty in Zimbabwe while also facilitating growth in ICTs in the country.
As part of a multi-million dollar investment in its satellite business, Liquid Telecom is the first operator to build a satellite hub at Teraco’s vendor-neutral earth station in South Africa.
This hub enables Liquid Telecom to route African traffic in Africa rather than back-hauling it via Europe as many operators need to do.
By keeping African data in Africa, Liquid Telecom has reduced latency and increased connectivity speeds for its customers.
The satellite business complements the fibre enabling it to provide high-speed, cost-effective broadband services to more remote areas where it is neither commercially viable nor practical to lay fibre.
Liquid Telecom’s latest satellite investment means that African businesses will be able to feel the benefits of high-speed broadband connectivity and associated business tools no matter where they are physically located on the continent.
Online Reporter