The groundwork for providing affordable internet access in Zimbabwe is still being established. A critical piece of infrastructure in that battle is the fibre network.
Yes, I know right now most people are mesmerised by satellite internet, Starlink in particular. There is a place for those technologies going forward and I’m all for licensing them, even the Chinese options. However, we can’t get away from wired internet.
For all the advancements we have seen and will see in wireless technology, it will never beat the reliability one gets from a physical connection.
I know, in Zimbabwe’s case, we have been taken back to the dark ages by an innocent farmer digging a little too deep and severing fibre optic cables. But still, wired will remain number one, we just need it to be more affordable.
Dandemutande announced building a long-haul fibre optic backbone of 891km along the Beitbridge – Harare railway network. They partnered with Fiber Connections, a subsidiary of Bandwidth and Cloud Services Group (BCS Group) to jointly build the network.
It will cost $8 million and that should tell you why the terrestrial network game is not crowded. It takes massive amounts of money to build fibre networks and you have to sympathise with these companies when the ZW$ makes it impossible to invest in their networks.
The two organisations comment
Never Ncube, CEO of Dandemutande said,
We have made an investment of US$5 million for the backhaul and will invest about US$3 million in metro fibre in cities that the backhaul is passing through to modernize and upgrade our network thereby ensuring that the platform is future-ready to meet customer needs.
This speaks volumes of our commitment to providing our customers with superior connectivity solutions throughout the country. We will split the project into two phases, the first phase being the 531km of optic fibre from Beitbridge-Somabhula-Bulawayo which was launched in December 2022 with the Victoria Falls leg and the second phase being the 360 km of optic fibre between Somabhula and Harare.
The second phase was supposed to be completed by the end of February.
Yonas Maru, BCS Group Managing Director gave a few details on how the partnership is structured,
BCS Group and Dandemutande mutually funded CAPEX for fibre construction and each party owns a percentage of the fibre cores and shares in proportion of the cost of fibre maintenance.
Together, this project provides the infrastructure necessary for Zimbabwe to build digital services. It creates the needle that stitches our continent together, as fiber links are laid across countries and our people engage in trade, commerce, and play without regard to the borders created by colonial powers. The various projects BCS Group is doing take us out of poverty while making Zimbabwe a true hub.
They hope this new fibre link will “significantly reduce Internet access costs, increase reliability and bring high-speed Internet access to the rural areas of Zimbabwe.”
Doesn’t that sound like the hope many people have thrust on Starlink’s shoulders? So, I guess we need reminding that terrestrial connectivity can still be competitive.
In some countries, Starlink is not cheaper than fixed internet and that’s where Zimbabwe needs to be. Investments like these by Dandemutande will go a long way in helping us get there.
You may recall that Dark Fibre Africa completed laying over 2000km of their own fibre network last year. All welcome developments.
For context, Liquid had surpassed 20,000km in Zimbabwe back in 2020 and they reached 100,000km in the whole of Africa in 2021.
Also read:
- DFA Zimbabwe donates ICT lab to orphanage, gives update on fibre-laying progress, comments on Starlink
- Zimbabwe to get fibre optics, renewable energy funding from Africa50, is this a big deal?
- Starlink coming to Zimbabwe through Dandemutande partnership? Is the wait over folks?
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