Liquid Telecom Rwanda targets home users with Sh3bn network

Liquid Telecom Group has announced expansion and investment plans for its Rwanda operations, which will enable more businesses and homes to access high-speed broadband services both within Rwanda and in the surrounding countries.

Over the next two years, Liquid Telecom Rwanda will invest $34 million (Sh3 billion) laying thousands of kilometres of new fibre across the country and to the borders of Burundi, DR Congo, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

The new fibre will enable more businesses and homes to access Liquid Telecom’s broadband service. In addition, operators in neighbouring countries will be able to interconnect with Liquid Telecom Rwanda’s network for additional security, as backup for Uganda and as an alternative routing option through Tanzania.

“We are an ambitious company which is investing heavily in laying new fibre across the nation and direct to people’s doors. We are building a 21st Century network which will help our country continue to grow and prosper,” said Sam Nkusi, chairman Liquid Telecom Rwanda.

As part of the expansion, and following a successful rollout at Liquid Telecom Zimbabwe, Liquid Telecom will be the first company in Rwanda to lay extensive Fibre To The Home (FTTH), starting in Kigali where it has already built a metropolitan fibre ring.

Homes and businesses in the country have traditionally used a combination of WiMAX, dongles, satellite and mobile broadband but will now be able to connect using fibre laid directly to the premises.

The FTTH service will offer speeds of up to 100mbps which, combined with unlimited capacity, will provide home connections comparable to large multinational corporations enabling usage such as high definition video, live TV streaming, uninterrupted VoIP calling, real-time online gaming and both uploading and downloading of large files.

In June the company announced it had completed the building of the East Africa Fibre Ring that connects Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and back into Kenya. This provides consistently high speeds and continuous uptime across the region.

Future plans for the FTTH service include offering value-added and OTT services similar to those currently launching in Zimbabwe.

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KIXP to host leading global provider of cloud services

The Kenya Internet Exchange Point (KIXP) has announced that it will be hosting servers of Akamai Technologies, a leading provider of cloud services for delivering, optimising and securing online content and business applications. KIXP is largest internet exchange point in East Africa.

Every day Akamai delivers 15 to 30 per cent of the world’s total web traffic reaching more than 15 terabits per second.

The Telecommunication Service Providers Association of Kenya (Tespok), the lobby group representing telecom companies, expects the Akamai platform to offload a significant percentage of KIXP members’ traffic from expensive international transit connection points.

“The Kenya Internet Exchange Point is privileged to host one of the world’s leading provider of cloud services. Networks connecting to KIXP will be able to cross connect to the Akamai Intelligent Platform. Networks that wish to interconnect to Akamai for cloud services will benefit from Akamai Intelligent Platform that provides extensive reach, unmatched reliability, security, visibility and expertise,” said Fiona Asonga, KIXP chief executive.

Akamai Technologies joins Google among the world’s leading brands to connect to the Kenya Internet Exchange Point, making the exchange point the fastest growing in the region.

The connection is expected to accelerate the pace of innovation in the region, changing how enterprises carry out their business.