Mobile telecommunications operator MTN and pan-African fibre-optic infrastructure provider Liquid Telecom have signed a partnership deal in terms of which they will jointly offer customers access to their wireless and fixed services across the continent.
The partnership, which covers wholesale, carrier-to-carrier, high-speed broadband, enterprise and fixed data services, allows the companies to access each other’s fixed and wireless networks in countries where one party may not currently have presence.
According to Liquid Telecom, the deal is in response to growing demand from businesses in West Africa for the company’s broadband service. Until now, Liquid has focused on East, Central and Southern Africa.
“We are laying 100km of new fibre every week but have decided to partner for the time being in West Africa so that we can immediately meet demand from businesses there,” said Liquid Telecom CEO Nic Rudnick in a statement.
The additional countries which Liquid Telecom will now have a presence in are Benin, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan and Swaziland. The agreement with Liquid Telecom gives MTN the ability to service its multinational enterprise customers in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
Liquid Telecom’s fibre network spans 20 000km across Burundi, the DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe and is complemented by a satellite service for rural areas. — © 2015 NewsCentral Media