Liquid Intelligent Technologies
(Liquid), a business of Cassava Technologies, a pan-African technology group, has launched two new fully redundant terrestrial routes – Kenya to
Ethiopia and Zambia to Malawi.
This achievement, announced in a statement on Wednesday, will improve regional connectivity and economic development in these countries.
Spanning over
1000 km, the fibre link between Kenya and Ethiopia offers businesses in
Ethiopia access to data centres and cloud in Nairobi, Kenya, ensuring that data
doesn’t leave the continent. In addition, this link is further supported by the
cross-border 711 km link between Zambia and Malawi, providing a direct and
reliable connection to content caches and data centres in South Africa.
According to
Adil El Youssefi- CEO Rest of Africa at Liquid Intelligent Technologies, “Kenyan and Ethiopian businesses are rapidly
adopting digital technologies, and this new link will enable trade and
investment between these two great nations in our region. For Liquid
Kenya, we see this growing demand being catalysed by the Kenya Kwanza
Government’s Digital Superhighway Initiative , and this
1000 km of newly lit fibre is our first contribution to the private sector
investment into this flagship project”.
In
partnership with the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) and
Ethiopia Electric Power (EEP), Liquid’s new link connects Nairobi and Mega, a
town in southern Ethiopia, and provides a capacity of four terabytes per
second. Complementing the existing terrestrial routes across this border, the
Kenya-Ethiopia route will now have carrier-grade connectivity, which serves to
rapidly expand data traffic on this important route. As Liquid doubles down
on its investment in Ethiopia, it expands on its long-standing commitment to
ignite transformation, job creation and growth on the continent.
“All initiatives undertaken by businesses under
Cassava Technologies work towards realising our vision of a digitally connected
future that leaves no African behind. The completion of these fibre links is
yet another milestone achieved by Liquid as it continues to lay the foundations
of economic growth through increased access to high-speed connectivity,” says Hardy Pemhiwa, President and
Group CEO of Cassava Technologies.
The fibre
network will provide Kenya and Ethiopia with measurable benefits in terms of
connectivity performance and accessibility as it connects the underserved towns
of Suswa, Sereolipi, Ndaragwa and Marsabit, as well as Nairobi and Mega.
Liquid aims
to catalyse African growth through its intelligent fibre backbone, providing
cost-effective, regional internet connectivity that enhances digital
transformation. These milestones foster richer economic and technological ties
across countries and the continent, helping African companies and individuals
realise their potential within the digital economy on a local and global scale.