Liquid Telecom Group has built the first fibre optic link into Somalia, connecting the country to its neighbours, the rest of the world and to undersea cables by fibre for the first time.
The fibre link crosses the Kenya/Somalia border and then directly into the fibre network of Hormuud Telecom Somalia (Hortel) for local termination.
Hortel says the fibre network will provide Liquid Telecom’s customers – fixed and mobile operators, wholesale carriers and enterprises – with reliable, robust and fast connectivity in southern and central Somalia.
The company’s customers now have access to Liquid Telecom’s pan-African fibre network, which spans more than 17,000km across Botswana, DRC, Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe and provides connectivity onto the five main subsea cable systems landing in Africa; WACS, EASSY, SEACOM, SAT3 and TEAMs. The Liquid Telecom Group is also the first wholesale carrier to connect the East African capitals of Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Kampala and Kigali on a single fibre network.
Nic Rudnick, CEO of The Liquid Telecom Group, said: 'We will be providing the people of Somalia with access to the global internet at higher speeds and with more capacity available than ever before. Our goal is to connect every person and business in Africa to the internet and to each other. We are an agile and entrepreneurial company which is investing heavily in building our pan-African fibre network.'
Hormuud Telecom chairman Ahmed Yuusuf said: 'The connection of the HORTEL network to Liquid Telecom’s international fibre network is a landmark for Somalia and will provide our customers with the fastest and most cost effective communications speeds available. This is a significant accomplishment for both companies.'
