Liquid Telecom South Africa, says it will establish a multi-billion Rand 4G network in South Africa from early 2019, providing wholesale open access roaming services to network operators, starting early 2019.
By BUSINESS REPORTER
“This is an exciting development which will enable us to provide mobile network operators and ISPs with open access to our mobile 4G network. Using our 1800MHz spectrum, the network will handle 4G mobile data traffic to meet the needs of the most demanding users across the country,” chief executive, Reshaad Sha.
Liquid Telecom, which acquired Neotel from Tata Communications in February 2017, has been investing heavily across the continent where it operates Africa’s largest independent fibre network that is almost 70 000km in length and linked to more than 600 towns and cities in 13 countries.
Recently, the company completed its ‘Cape to Cairo’ network, which represents the first direct land-based terrestrial fibre link on the continent.
“This milestone builds on a remarkable year for Liquid Telecom. I am encouraged that the momentum will continue into 2019 with South African operators having access to wholesale roaming services across our network for the first time.,” Nic Rudnick, Group CEO of Liquid Telecom, said.
“Our announcement today, caps a busy and successful year which includes our recent announcement of a $180m investment in Liquid Telecom by CDC Group Plc, the UK’s development finance institution. This will enable us to expand our broadband connectivity to some of the most underserved communities across the African continent.”
In December, Liquid Telecom also reached an agreement with Telecom Egypt to invest $400 million in Egypt over the next three years as a leading connectivity and cloud solutions provider for the first time in North Africa, serving businesses in the region with a world-class network and data centre services.
