Telecom
Liquid Opens Up South Sudan
Leading pan-African telecoms group Liquid Telecom has implemented and opened South Sudan’s first fibre broadband network, connecting the country to the “One Africa” broadband network, which is approaching 70,000km across 18 African countries and to the rest of the world. This includes cables from Cape Town to Cairo, and from Port Sudan to Cameroon and Nigeria. A cable running from Cape Town to Kinshasa is set for commissioning later this year.
Speaking on the mic blogging site Facebook, Strive Masiyiwa said “Liquid began service to Juba-South Sudan this morning at 8am! South Sudan was one of only two countries in Africa with no link to the rest of the world, through Undersea Fibre link.”
South Sudan will link to Liquid Telecom’s network across the region which covers the East African Community, a regional intergovernmental organisation of six partner states, the Republics of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania, and the Republic of Uganda. The Community connects up to 300 million people and stimulates cross-border investment and trade.
Liquid currently has over 75,000 of Fibre networks running through 18 countries. This includes cables from Cape Town to Cairo, and from Port Sudan to Cameroon and Nigeria. A cable running from Cape Town to Kinshasa is set for commissioning later this year.
“I plan to do Juba’s first Town Hall meeting beamed live by broadband before the end of next month.I’m now planning a trip to Eritrea, the last country with no broadband high-speed Internet.“If not us, who? If not now, when?” John F Kennedy.” Strive Masiyiwa Added.
The first phase of the agreement signed between the Government of South Sudan’s National Communication Authority and Liquid Telecom included a 300km fibre backbone operating from the border of Uganda, through South Sudan, to Juba which has now been finished. Multiple metro clusters will also support the capital city. This first phase went live in the last quarter of 2019. The network expanded to other cities in subsequent phases, in time supporting the country’s 13 million citizens.
Pardon has been a technology enthusiast his entire life and has spent the better part of last decades in information technology and security, and he writes with an aim to remove some of the "mysticism" from the cyber world. He’s the Editor at Techunzipped. Away from the keyboard, you're likely to find him playing with the latest gadgets or the latest Game.
