Kenya Data Networks (KDN), a subsidiary of Mauritius-based Liquid Telecom Group, has deployed fibre-optic networks in Tanzania, extending connectivity to the East African capitals of Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Kampala and Kigali via a single optical fibre network. In a press release, KDN said that the latest extension spans 120km, and runs from the capital Nairobi to the town of Namanga on the Kenya-Tanzania border. KDN says the latest deployment will improve capacity and reduce latency for its end users (down from over 400ms to nearer 50ms) by keeping African traffic in Africa. The operator’s customer base includes ISPs, telecoms carriers, business and residential users, and government bodies.
Liquid Telecom Group has built Africa’s largest fibre network spanning over 13,000km from the north of Uganda to Cape Town on a single thread. The latest Nairobi-Namanga section provides capacity of multiple STM-64s and will be operational and available to KDN and Liquid Telecom customers in August this year.
As reported by CommsUpdate, earlier this month Liquid Telecom Group announced that it had implemented significant improvements to its fibre network along the East African coast, with a view to reducing congestion, improving connectivity and introducing the lowest latency rates on the African continent. Since its acquisition of KD), Rwandan internet service provider (ISP) Stream and Uganda’s InfoCom, the group says that it has ‘prioritised the integration of these networks with its own existing fibre infrastructure to create one seamless fully redundant IP network’. Liquid Telecom has also commissioned a gigabit circuit between Kenya and South Africa, which links to the SEACOM submarine cable. Nic Rudnick, CEO of Liquid Telecom, commented: ‘The recent problems in East Africa once again highlight Africa’s need for a large-scale, high speed, fully redundant, cross-border network. That’s why Liquid Telecom is investing in its own infrastructure. We know that by building and managing our own fibre infrastructure, we’re agile enough to solve our customers’ problems and improve standards and quality, even in the toughest conditions’.