Econet Wireless Zimbabwe just sent out a press release on the Liquid fibre project announced last week by Liquid telecoms. Here’s a summary of new information in the release:
- That the fibre work was carried out by Huawei Technologies
- Malawi and Mozambique have asked Liquid to expand the terrestrial fibre into the two countries
- Construction will start in the Katanga Province of DRC within a matter of weeks
- Liquid will eventually connect Lubumbashi to the capital Kinshasa by taking the cable on high voltage transmission lines.
The release also gives the vague impression (probably unintentionally) that “a dedicated terrestrial cable that has been built from Durban in South Africa and running through Zimbabwe along the major highways.” What is known so far is that Liquid has no intention of doing anything South of J’burg. Liquid Telecom CEO Nic Rudnick told TechCentral just last week: “We don’t intend to reinvent the wheel where fibre already exists, so I doubt we’ll build anywhere south of Johannesburg. North of Johannesburg we see a greater need to build out capacity.”
Here’s the full text of today’s release:
The landlocked country of Zambia has been connected to the Seacom and Sat3 undersea cables, with a dedicated terrestrial cable that has been built from Durban in South Africa and running through Zimbabwe along the major highways.
The cable was laid by Chinese contractor Huawei Technologies on behalf of Liquid Telecom Fibre Network, a subsidiary of global telecoms operator Econet Wireless.
Liquid Telecom CEO Mr Nic Rudnick said the company has already begun to provide service to Zambian customers and that demand was extremely high. “We have quite a major backlog of customers who want service, including key government institutions. This is really exciting,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Rudnick has acknowledged the extraordinary level of support from governments and authorities in the countries through which the fibre network has been built.
“We have had remarkable support in all these countries, with some of them even designating it a ‘national project’, even though it is built by a private consortium.”
He said the project had created thousands of jobs during construction, and would have the same impact as when the railway first arrived in Southern Africa.
Mr Rudnick said several other countries, such as Malawi and Mozambique, have asked the company to also extend links into their countries.
Liquid Telecom has meanwhile reached the border between Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo and plans to start construction in Katanga Province within a matter of weeks. The company has already developed plans to cross the world’s second largest natural forest to connect Lubumbashi to the capital Kinshasa by taking the cable on high voltage transmission lines.
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