Kathy Gibson reports from AfricaCom in Cape Town – Householders in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya and Rwanda will soon be able to get 100Mbps fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) access.
Liquid Telecom yesterday announced that the new service is already available in Zambia and Zimbabwe, and will be rolled out in Kenya and Rwanda early next year.
The new offering is for unlimited data package and up to 100Mbps, at a cost of about $250 per month, although other broadband packages are available from as little as $50 per month.
Liquid Telecom’s CEO Nic Rudnick says the company is laying more than 100km of new fibre each week. The goal is to build Africa’s largest pan-African fibre network, he says, providing reasonable coverage across the continent.
The company already has a backhaul redundant fibre network in place, covering more than 18 000km and connecting to all the undersea cables in the region – and is now offering last-mile connectivity.
With about 65 000 households already connected via its FTTH offering, Rudnick says the goal is to bring this up to 100 000 households next year.
“Our FTTH service has made accessing streamed, high-definition media via the Internet a reality for homes and small businesses in some of the remotest parts of Africa.”
The company is initially working on connecting the major cities with fibre, but will continue building the network to embrace smaller cities and towns as well.