KENET (Kenya Education Network) has been the primary broadband provider for universities and research institutes in the country since 1999. Currently this includes over 134 separate campuses which rely on commercial leased lines and last mile links provided by the operator. This week KENET and Liquid Telecom Kenya announced the renewal of a contract that promises an expansion to KENET’s network. The contract extends for three years with Liquid Telcom supplying KENET with its extensive network of broadband leased lines.
Liquid Telecom Kenya formed after the acquisition and subsequent rebranding of KDN earlier this year. Under the parent company Liquid Telecom Group, LTK has increased its fibre network capacity to a Pan-African scale with the lowest latency rates in the continent. The partnership between Liquid Telecom and KENET will see Kenyan educational institutions connect to 12 other National Research and Education Networks (NREN) in Eastern and Southern Africa. All of these NRENs are members of the UbuntuNet Alliance
67 campuses of KENET member institutions are connected by an aggregate leased line capacity of 2.5 Gb/s, 80% of which is currently supplied by Liquid Telecom. With the expansion, students and academics will be able to connect with network nodes in the UbuntuNet Alliance.
