CEC Liquid Telcom appoints new Managing Director to oversee rapid growth and future investment
14 July 2014 – The Liquid Telecom Group and Copperbelt Energy Corporation PLC have today announced the appointment of Andrew Kapula as Managing Director of CEC Liquid Telecom in Zambia.
CEC Liquid Telecom control room
CEC Liquid Telecom is growing rapidly and Mr Kapula will direct the company’s continued expansion of its fibre and wireless backbone infrastructure (GPON and 4G LTE). In 2014, the company will invest more than US$15m to make fibre-based broadband available to the doorsteps of Zambian households and the business community (FTTH).
Mr Kapula will also be overseeing CEC Liquid Telecom’s expansion into new vertical markets and the diversification of its product portfolio including regional and international IP backhaul, transit and leased lines for mobile operators and multi-sited business institutions.
CEC Liquid Telecom is a joint venture between the Copperbelt Energy Corporation PLC (CEC), a Zambian power generation, transmission and distribution company and the Liquid Telecom Group.
It has built the largest single fibre network in Zambia with more than 1200km of fibre laid across the country to date and has direct access to the award-winning pan-African fibre and satellite networks of The Liquid Telecom Group.
CEC Liquid Telecom offers wholesale capacity in all of Zambia’s ten provinces and is also an operator with customers from all sectors. It has the first fully-redundant network in the country and is able to provide Service Level Agreements at a level not previously experienced in Zambia, owing to its end-to-end ownership of the network.
Mr Kapula has served on the board of CEC Liquid Telecom since 2011, with particular interest in helping to digitise Zambia and making the company a model ICT Service provider. He has worked at CEC for more than 17 years in a variety of telecoms and IT roles and has wide experience in the operational and commercial sides of the business. He was also instrumental within the team that designed and built CEC’s fibre network, which runs alongside its power network.
Mr Kapula said “Zambia has a highly competitive telecoms market. CEC Liquid Telecom has a well-deserved reputation for quality, reliability and good customer service. It’s great to be leading the team in Zambia and we will be working extremely hard to increase our market share, penetrate new markets and continue to provide businesses and homes with the fastest and most reliable broadband service in the country, coupled with outstanding customer service. Liquid Telecom is building Africa’s digital future and I share the company’s belief that everyone should have access to fast broadband.”
NOTES FOR EDITORS
About The Liquid Telecom Group
Liquid Telecom supplies wholesale fibre optic, satellite and connectivity services in Africa. Its customers include Africa’s largest mobile network operators, ISPs, financial institutions and businesses of all sizes.
Liquid has built Africa’s largest single fibre network, which runs from the north of Uganda to Cape Town. In total, its award-winning pan-African fibre network spans over 17,000km across Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is the first fibre network to cross country borders and covers Africa’s fastest-growing economies where no fixed network has existed before.
Liquid’s wholesale network provides connectivity onto the five main subsea cable systems landing in Africa; WACS, EASSy, SEACOM, SAT3 and TEAMA.
Working under various brands, the Liquid Telecom Group has operating entities in Botswana, DRC, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, United Kingdom, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
About CEC
The Copperbelt Energy Corporation PLC (CEC) is an independent power transmission and distribution company, with interests in closely linked businesses in Zambia and the African region, including optic fibre based telecommunications. A member of the Southern African Power Pool and listed on the Lusaka Stock Exchange, CEC has a deep insight into the mining industry, enabling it to provide quality electricity and other power products and services to the majority of the mines in Zambia for over 50 years. CEC is well positioned as a developer of energy infrastructure in Africa and is respected in the region for its skills in designing and operating transmission systems.
The Company owns and operates over 1,000 kilometres of high voltage transmission lines and 41 substations covering all towns in Zambia’s mineral-rich region of the Copperbelt, and owns the Zambian portion of the electricity interconnector with the Democratic Republic of Congo, which enables transportation of power within the Southern African region. CEC accounts for over 50% of Zambia’s power consumption. CEC has emerged as an independent power generating company with some strategic generating projects in development and in the pipeline from a diversified energy source mix, including hydro, biomass and solar.
For further information, please contact:
| Copperbelt Energy Corporation PLC: | Liquid Telecom: |
| Chama Nsabika-Kalima Mobile: +260 966 792 922 Email: [email protected] |
Bridget Fishleigh Mobile: +44 7946 342 903 / +27 21 813 6725 Email: [email protected] Skype: bridgetfishleigh |
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