Liquid Telecom has revealed that it has raised USD$150 million which will fund the further expansion of its fibre network in Africa. According to the company, it has spent more than five years building an independent cross-border fibre network – which runs across 15 nations in East and Central Africa covering Africa’s fast-growing economies where no fixed network has existed before and connecting to all the subsea cables.
The network currently spans over 18,000km and includes fibre rings around a multitude of towns and cities and The East Africa Fibre Ring, the first fully redundant regional fibre ring in East Africa.
According to the company, the new investment will be used to extend Liquid Telecom’s fibre network into additional countries as part of the company’s continuous expansion strategy. It will also finance ongoing Fibre To The Home (FTTH) builds in Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia and Zimbabwe which will provide homes and businesses with speeds of up to 100Mbps.
Nic Rudnick, CEO of the Liquid Telecom Group, stated that: “We believe in the power of connectivity to transform lives and our goal is to connect as many people in Africa as possible. Our fibre networks provide capacity for high-speed fixed and mobile broadband networks, enabling Africans to access digital content, apps and OTT services. This funding will help us in our mission of building Africa’s digital future.”
The $150m loan for Liquid Telecom was facilitated by Standard Chartered and provided by large global investment banks.
Staff Writer
