FEATURE : TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Liquid , with its 100,000km pan-African network across 14 countries in the region , has successfully issued a $ 620 million bond issue . This has helped to install 10,000 km in the past five months alone . This has enabled fibre broadband for about 2.7 million people in the DRC . The network will continue its roll out into West Africa and East Africa .
Countries already connected to the Liquid fibre network include Ethiopia , South Sudan , Chad , Cameroon and Congo Brazzaville . Uganda , Zambia , Tanzania , Zimbabwe , and Rwanda .
In summary the top investments in this sector across Africa include Nigeria Data Centre $ 250 million ; Liquid Intelligent Technologies $ 620 million , Safaricom consortium for Ethiopia , $ 500 million ; Airtel Africa $ 100 million ; Africell $ 105 million ; Africa Datacentres $ 300 million .
A 100,000-kilometre fibre network will benefit and impact more than 100 million people in 643 towns and cities across Africa . Liquid intends to connect East and West Africa through DRC .
Other than benefiting telecommunication companies , this fibre network also benefits cloud hosting and digital user experience through reduced latency .
Africa Datacentres is building datacentres in Nigeria and Ghana , among others . It already operates datacentres in Sub-Saharan Africa markets such as Kenya and South Africa .
Other than investments , local and regional acquisitions are also taking place . Ghana ’ s Ngoya Etix datacentre has been acquired by African Infrastructure Investment Managers .
Global investors are taking interest wherever telecommunication , datacentres and Internet companies can work together , building infrastructure to boost connectivity . There is currently an appetite for credit into Africa specifically to develop technology and telecommunication infrastructure . African countries that can demonstrate economic stability in this fashion are preferred for FDI investment .
The future of the industry is in the hands of its executives who must innovate and transform the businesses they manage . p
STATISTA HAS REPORTED THAT AFRICAN
COUNTRIES HAVE THE
LOWEST INTERNET PENETRATION RATE OF 39 % COMPARED TO 60 %, THE GLOBAL AVERAGE .
www . intelligentcio . com INTELLIGENTCIO AFRICA 37