Fibre network goes live in Zambia
Countrywide broadband connectivity is now available across Zambia. Cabling firm CEC Liquid Telecom has completed the first phase of its network in the African country – a fibre link between the capital city Lusaka and the Zambian Copperbelt – and services are now live.
Liquid Telecom is building the largest regional fibre network across Central Africa which will provide backhaul between most urban areas and last mile connectivity in the main cities. It will be directly connected to the submarine cables of Seacom, SAT3, WACS and Eassy.
The network will provide virtually unlimited broadband capacity within and into Zambia and is already increasing competition and reducing end-user broadband prices by more than 50% in some areas. The network is Zambia’s first fully-redundant regional network and, as a result, is able to provide Service Level Agreements with 99% uptime guaranteed.
Chishala Kateka, managing director of ZAMNET, an ISP in Zimbabwe, said: “This is a very welcome development for the telecommunications industry in Zambia. There is now an additional choice to enable operators to provide affordable services to the end users who now expect much faster and more reliable connections”.
Created in March 2011, CEC Liquid Telecom is a joint venture between Zambian power company Copperbelt Energy Corporation and Liquid Telecom, which is building the most-extensive fibre optic network in Southern Africa, covering South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia.
Nic Rudnick, CEO of Liquid Telecom, said: “We are investing heavily in the build-out of the largest and most reliable broadband network in Southern Africa. Our fibre networks are being built to last and to provide unlimited capacity for future generations”.
CEC Liquid Telecom is also setting up a data centre in Zambia for hosting, servers, routers and the equipment of public and private operators. Phase 2 of the network is expected to go live by the end of 2011 and will connect the towns of Chirundu, Ndola, Kabwe and Chililabombwe.
