Liquid Telecom has issued a request for tender to international companies involved in the construction of submarine cables seeking to build 10,000 kilometers of sub-sea cable linking Africa to the Middle East and onward to Europe. The cable network will directly connect all coastal countries along the east coast of Africa and will include landing stations in several ports that are currently not served by existing subsea cables. The project is to be undertaken through Liquid Sea, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liquid Telecom.
The project slated to take 2 years to complete will connect to Liquid Telecom’s terrestrial network thus ensuring reliable and affordable connectivity to customers. The project will also offer connectivity to landlocked and and coastal countries in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa.Liquid Telecom says the project is now the project is already fully funded and once completed, Liquid Sea will offer speeds of 20-30Tbps which is up to 10 times faster.
In 2014, Liquid Telecom won the tender to host the KIXP (Kenya Internet Exchange Point), the peering point for the country’s ISP’s and the largest internet exchange point in region. KIXP serves an important role seeing as Kenya’s internet use has exploded. This includes eliminating the need for multiple hops when local ISPs need to exchange internet traffic, reducing congestion on international links, speeding up data, and reducing costs.
