Liquid Intelligent Technologies is using high-speed wireless optical technology from Taara to connect large enterprises in Lagos to data center capacity without relying entirely on fiber, offering a faster way to expand connectivity in Nigeria’s largest commercial hub.
Over the past two years, Liquid has deployed nearly a dozen Taara links across Lagos, connecting internet service providers, banks, hotels and a utility company to high-capacity network infrastructure.
The technology is designed for locations where laying fiber is expensive, slow or technically difficult. It can also provide an alternative route when fiber networks are disrupted by cuts, which can leave businesses without connectivity while repairs are carried out.
Taara, a graduate of X, Google’s Moonshot Factory, uses narrow beams of invisible light to transmit data through the air. Its Lightbridge platform can deliver up to 20 Gbps of capacity across distances of up to 20 kilometers.
Unlike conventional fiber deployments, the system does not require trenching, spectrum licensing or extensive civil works. Taara says links can be installed and activated within hours in some deployments, compared with the weeks that traditional infrastructure projects can require.
For Liquid, the technology provides another way to distribute bandwidth from its points of presence at Africa Data Centres and other leading data centers to enterprises that may be beyond the immediate reach of fiber.
That could become increasingly important as demand for cloud services, digital payments, artificial intelligence, enterprise applications and data-intensive services grows across Africa.
Lagos presents a particular infrastructure challenge. As Nigeria’s largest commercial center, the city has a dense concentration of businesses and growing demand for reliable connectivity, while expanding physical network infrastructure in congested urban environments can be expensive and operationally difficult.
Fiber remains the backbone of modern communications networks, but operators increasingly need additional technologies to extend capacity and create redundancy.
Liquid is using Taara links as a complement to its existing fiber infrastructure rather than as a replacement for it. The company can use the wireless optical connections to reach customers more quickly, connect locations where fiber deployment is difficult and establish alternative network routes.
“For Liquid, deployment speed has been one of the most significant advantages,” Eugene Uka, acting chief executive officer of Liquid Intelligent Technologies Nigeria, said.
“Traditional fiber deployments aren’t always a possibility, especially across difficult terrains. Taara links can often be installed and activated within hours,” he said.
The technology could also help address one of the persistent weaknesses of fiber-dependent networks: physical cuts.
Fiber cables can be damaged during road construction, excavation and other civil works. Restoring connections can take days depending on the location and extent of the damage. A wireless optical link can provide an alternative connection between network points without requiring another physical cable to be laid.
“As demand for connectivity continues to grow, operators need more flexibility in how they expand and reinforce their networks,” said Bhavesh Mistry, regional lead for Taara in Africa.
“Fiber remains an essential part of modern communications infrastructure, and will for some time, but there are many situations where deploying fiber quickly or cost-effectively can be difficult,” Mistry said.
Taara’s technology uses highly focused beams of light to transmit data between two points. Because the system operates through the air, operators can establish high-capacity connections without digging trenches or acquiring additional radio-frequency spectrum.
The company says Lightbridge can provide up to 20 Gbps over distances of as much as 20 kilometers, positioning it between conventional fiber and traditional radio-frequency wireless systems.
Liquid has now begun exploring opportunities to expand the technology beyond Lagos, with Abuja, Ibadan and Kano among the Nigerian cities being considered for future deployments.
The expansion could give Liquid another tool for serving enterprises in areas where the economics or physical challenges of fiber deployment make conventional infrastructure less attractive.
Taara Lightbridge is currently deployed in more than 20 countries, with operators including T-Mobile, Airtel, Digicel, Liquid and SoftBank.
For Africa’s rapidly expanding digital economy, the significance of the technology may extend beyond simply providing a faster alternative to fiber. Wireless optical links could allow network operators to add capacity, connect new customers and build backup routes without waiting for lengthy civil works.
In markets where demand for connectivity is growing faster than physical infrastructure can be deployed, getting data from a data center to a business may increasingly depend not only on what is buried underground, but also on what can be transmitted through the air.