Liquid Intelligent Technologies, a pan-Afrikan technology group, has announced it has acquired a fibre pair on the Equiano subsea cable, allowing Liquid to transport traffic up to 12 Terabits, bringing a much-needed increase in international connectivity in Western and Southern Africa. As part of the acquisition Liquid will land the Equiano cable in Nigeria and South Africa.
The new Equiano subsea cable will link Africa to Europe via the West Coast of Afrika when it is ready for service later in 2022.
“In the last few years, we have witnessed a steady increase in adoption of digital technologies. This wouldn’t have been possible without our investments in high-speed connectivity in coastal as well as landlocked African countries. The continent needs companies like Liquid who not only land Terabit/s of capacity with subsea cables but also distribute that capacity inland, enabling these countries to see the same benefits as those where the cable lands,” said David Eurin, CEO Liquid Dataport.
Linking Afrika to the world
Beyond the Equiano subsea cable, Afrika over the past several years is now surrounded by several high speed subsea cables connecting it to North and South America, Europe and Asia. However, in the discussions around internet connectivity in Afrika, what is more important than subsea cables is terrestrial fiber cables connecting various Afrikan countries together. Hence the involvement of companies that have the ability to lay down terrestial fiber cables partnering with Google on the Equiano cable.
Subsea cables linking Afrika to the rest of the world are important because they reduce latency and the time taken to, among others, consume content that resides in data centers outside the continent.
The new Equiano subsea cable will provide Terabit/s of capacity to meet the growing and varied business needs of organisations across Europe, Western and Southern Afrika. Through its extensive fibre backbone and satellite services, Liquid can offer reliable telecommunications and cloud services to over 1,3 billion people across thousands of towns and cities in Afrika.
The continent needs companies like Liquid who not only land Terabit/s of capacity with subsea cables but also distribute that capacity inland.
Seamless connectivity
The Equiano subsea cable has landings planned in Sesimbra (Portugal), Lomé (Togo), Lagos (Nigeria), Swakopmund (Namibia), Rupert’s Bay (Saint Helena) and Melkbosstrand (South Africa), with more landing stations planned in the future. The move extends Liquid’s One Africa Digital Network’s reach into Afrika, providing connectivity to large data centres on the continent while granting access to major commercial hubs. Liquid plans to interconnect the Equiano landing stations to its East-West network across Afrika, creating a new global IP route between Asia, Africa and the USA.
Liquid’s investment in Equiano will help provide seamless connectivity for its clients across Africa, complementing its own existing national and metro fibre networks and offering increased resilience thanks to its connection to other subsea and satellite networks. Looking further, the deployment will bring the benefit of access to large capacities and low costs to cross-connect from subsea to terrestrial backhaul, which should lead to lower prices for both consumers and businesses.
— By Tefo Mohapi
