Pan-African digital infrastructure provider Liquid Intelligent Technologies has partnered with PEACE Cable Company to provide an additional 800Gbps subsea capacity in Mombasa.
The additional Gbps will be part of the highly anticipated global submarine cable. It is aimed at increasing the availability of high-performance and reliable internet connectivity access across the continent leveraging Liquid’s 100,000km of terrestrial fibre across 12 countries.
While acting as a new global internet route between Asia, Europe and the USA, the additional capacity will help increase the proliferation of faster and more affordable internet, Cloud and cyber security services to the African people and businesses.
“We are delighted to provide new subsea capacity between Mombasa, Karachi and Marseille, with extensions planned towards Singapore and Asia. This creates a cost-effective, low-latency and diverse route that our customers can leverage to serve their business-critical connectivity needs. The submarine cable will be ready in 2022,” Liquid Dataport (a division of Liquid Intelligent Technologies) CEO David Eurin said.
Through its extensive network, Liquid will extend this new capacity to many destinations, including access to other subsea cable landing stations, such as Luanda in Angola, Muanda in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Pointe Noire in Congo.
This has led to the first protected, reliable, and high-capacity route between the two coasts of the continent, enabling a new global internet route between Asia and the USA (via Africa).
“Connecting Africa to the rest of the world and unleashing its young and dynamic workforce potential may be the key to catapulting Africa’s international trade and economies to a whole new level. The PEACE deal is another crucial step on that journey,” Eurin said.
The firm which is a comprehensive technology solutions group that provides customised digital solutions to public and private sector enterprises and SMEs across the continent already has access to many subsea cables around Africa like Equiano, WACS, SAT3/SAFE, EASSy, TEAMS, SEACOM and later 2Africa.
The continent is expected to benefit from additional capacity from the East African coast to Europe with the new PEACE cable.
Additionally, it will add diversity to an important route, allowing for improved redundancy and low latency (102ms between Mombasa and Marseille).
“We see around a 40-50% growth in internet traffic every year, so we invest massively in subsea cables to provide the best Internet experience across all countries in Africa,” Eurin said.
“We have been working closely with PEACE to extend the subsea capacity to more landlocked countries (including Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Burundi and the north-east of DRC). This is critical for our customers to leverage higher bandwidth, and it is expected to make the internet faster and more affordable in the region”.
Liquid’s 100,000 km terrestrial fibre backbone was a major point of interest in the partnership with PEACE.
“Liquid has an incredibly strong track record of success and a rich history of innovation. We are excited to join forces and to leverage Liquid’s expertise across the full technology value chain, from the subsea cable to the last mile. This is an exciting step for Telrad, our team and the customers we serve,” Telrad Chief Executive Officer Moti Elmaliach said.
New acquisitions
The leading African technology company recently announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Telrad, an Israeli-based technology company.
The Israeli telecommunications equipment manufacturer Telrad Networks is expected to be sold to Liquid Intelligent Technologies telecom group for 199 million shekels, a value higher than its market cap before the deal was reported.
Telrad provides and maintains high-quality technology products and services for global businesses and governments.
The company develops innovative technology solutions across business areas including networking, cyber security, cloud infrastructure, data centres, information technology, geoinformatics, and education.
This transaction brings together Telrad’s differentiated technology solutions with those of Liquids’ unique, integrated platform of digital infrastructure and services.
The acquisition will strengthen Liquid’s B2B product segments and its geographic reach, leveraging Telrad’s presence in 13 countries across the Middle East, South America, the United States, Eastern Europe and Asia.
“Telrad’s advanced proprietary technology in areas including cyber security, data centres and wireless access technology will be a great asset to Liquid’s digital solutions. Together, we will be able to leverage our pan-continental infrastructure to scale innovative, technology solutions and expand the breadth of our digital services offerings across and beyond Africa,” Group Chief Executive Officer of Liquid Nic Rudnick said.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including Telrad shareholder approval.
Liquid Intelligent Technologies, founded in 2005, is active in telecommunications, data centers, cyber, and cloud services in fifteen countries in Africa, mainly sub-Saharan Africa.