Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa has announced a new partnership between his Liquid Intelligent Technologies and Facebook to commence a fiber network expansion project in the Democratic Republic of Congo to connect East and West Africa by land.
The goal is to provide affordable infrastructure to bridge connectivity gaps.
In a statement reported by the media, Masiyiwa said: “Today I am excited to share the news that Liquid Intelligent Technologies and Facebook have agreed to partner to build a fiber network in the DRC to help connect East and West Africa by land.”
He added that the partnership will improve Internet access for more than 30 million people in Central Africa.
As part of the partnership, Facebook will invest in building and supporting a fiber network. Meanwhile, Liquid will own, build and operate the network, while providing wholesale services to mobile network operators and Internet service providers.
The new project will extend from central DRC to its eastern border with Rwanda, extending the reach of the major 2Africa undersea cable.
The project will better connect Africa with the Middle East and Europe.
“This is one of the most difficult fiber builds ever undertaken, crossing more than 2,000 kilometers of some of the most challenging terrain in the world,” Liquid Group CEO Nic Rudnick said. Liquid will employ more than 5,000 people from local communities to build out the fiber network.
Liquid Intelligent Technologies
Liquid is a leading connectivity, innovation and intelligent technology company across 13 countries, primarily in eastern, central and southern Africa. It is a subsidiary of Econet Global.
