Liquid Telecom Group has just completed the build of the East Africa Fibre Ring that connects Kenya Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and back into Kenya, making the first fully redundant regional fibre ring, of which, would ensure businesses connecting the countries to the rest of the world receive ample internet connectivity and reliable service.
The newly launched East Africa Fibre Ring will ensures that customers will not be affected by fibre cuts of which have affected Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda users todate. For the first time, in the event of a fibre cut, internet traffic would be 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.
As a historic development for business in East Africa, the new fibre ring is expected to improve Internet connectivity as it stretches to regions with no fixed network. It is also expected to increase reliability and security of data connectivity, internet and business services than has ever been available, with Liquid Telecom showing measurable service improvements and superior SLA’s to businesses.
To date, Internet in Africa has been limited by a lower penetration rate compared to the rest of the world. The continent has also exhibited an inner digital divide, in which most Internet connectivity and infrastructure has been mainly concentrated in South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, to mention a few countries. However internet connectivity in Africa has been ranked as the fastest growing in which has grown at a rate of 14 per cent between the years 2005 to 2013 reports say. And with the new East Africa Fibre Ring is expected to increase the growth of Internet connectivity especially in regions with little or no connectivity.
According to Nic Rudnick, CEO of the Liquid Telecom Group, the East Africa Fibre Ring is a major service improvement for the people and businesses of east Africa, especially those in Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, who will not have experienced such reliable internet previously. More so, this pioneering achievement is expected to 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, he said.
“Customers will immediately start to feel the benefits from our $20million investment in the region. The completion of the East African Fibre ring takes us another step towards building Africa’s digital future and giving better value for everyone using our network,” noted Rudnick.
Also intrigued about the new development, Amb. Dr. Richard Sezibera, Secretary General of the East African Community (EAC), the regional intergovernmental organisation of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, 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. I deeply admire, commend and give thanks to the company for their ongoing commitment, investment and resolve in creating a fibre ring of this scale.”
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 pioneering company which is widely recognised to have changed the face of telecoms in Africa.
Liquid Telecom is an independent data, voice and IP provider in eastern, central and southern Africa, supplying fibre optic, satellite and international carrier services to Africa’s largest mobile network operators, ISPs, financial institutions and businesses of all sizes. It provides network provides connectivity onto the five main subsea cable systems landing in Africa; WACS, EASSY, SEACOM, SAT3 and TEAMs. 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. The company was named Best African Wholesale Carrier in both 2012 and 2013 at the annual Global Carrier Awards.