Pan African telecoms group, Liquid Telecom, on Wednesday said it has launched the fastest direct land-based fibre link connecting East to West Africa. 

The company made the announcement at a media briefing at the annual AfricaCom conference held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC).

Group chief executive, Nic Rudnick said this breakthrough coast-to-coast digital corridor followed the completion of Liquid Telecom’s new high-capacity fibre link running 2,600 kilometres across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

He said the expansion connected millions of DRC citizens and thousands of businesses to Liquid Telecom’s “One Africa” broadband network linking the African continent to the rest of the world. According to Rudnick, this will help to create a foundation for social mobility, economic diversification and private sector-led growth both in the DRC and more widely across Africa. 

“Liquid Telecom has connected East to West Africa with the most direct digital corridor across the southern hemisphere. We have set a new benchmark and achieved a historic milestone in our vision to create a more connected Africa,” he said.

“By linking the DRC to Liquid Telecom’s rapidly expanding pan African fibre network and the rest of the world, this transformative infrastructure is creating a foundation for digital growth. Fast, reliable broadband connectivity will advance society, fuel innovation and help champion pan Africa trade.”

Until recently, no direct, land-based fibre network existed between East and West Africa. Network traffic between Kinshasa in the DRC and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, for example, was routed via London. Liquid Telecom’s East to West fibre link promises significantly reduced latency between major continents. It also meets the growing demand from global enterprises for fast, reliable, high-capacity and cost-effective communication across the southern hemisphere, Rudnick argued.

Dobek Pater, director at Africa Analysis, said: “What Africa has been lacking until now was a direct east-to-west telecommunications backbone. Liquid Telecom has achieved what African states and organisations have been contemplating for years without success. It deployed a high-capacity fibre optic backbone connecting sub-sea cables on the East Coast of Africa with cables on the West Coast of Africa.” 

“By doing this, it is not only considerably shortened the communications route between East and West Africa and contributed to keeping the traffic local, it also laid the groundwork for connecting millions of Africa’s citizens to the internet and the world.”