Paratus Botswana, the leading telecommunications and network services provider, has announced that the last leg of its fibre route has now been completed to create the new Botswana Kalahari Fiber (BKF) route.

A total of 840km of fibre was laid between the Namibian border and Lobatse, and was activated at the end of March 2024.

This new fibre route represents an investment of about P70-million in Botswana and is the largest significant investment in its own infrastructure by Paratus Botswana to date.

The BKF completes the last leg of the Paratus-built Trans Kalahari Fiber (TKF) route, which runs from Johannesburg to Swakopmund in Namibia. The new route creates the lowest-latency primary transit path through Botswana and Namibia to Europe. The new BKF will connect Botswana and neighbouring countries to various international subsea cables, and to the rest of the world.

Paratus Botswana and Paratus Namibia have worked closely together in the bid to connect South Africa to the Equiano cable in Swakopmund. By connecting to Equiano in Namibia, the BKF route will assist in enabling more product options and will help stimulate economic growth.

According to the economic impact assessment conducted by Africa Practice and Genesis Analytics, and commissioned by Google, Equiano is forecast to more than double internet speeds and increase internet penetration by 7.5% in the next three years alone, while acting as a catalyst for considerable growth, job creation and sustainability in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.

What was involved

The news comes a few months after Paratus announced the launch of its Gaborone metro fibre ring and, as country MD of Paratus Botswana Shawn Bruwer says, the Botswana Kalahari Fiber route is “part of our ongoing investment in our network infrastructure to meet the growing demand for telecommunications services in the country. The Paratus quality network services offering is now even more compelling, particularly for the financial services and banking sectors or indeed any industry sector that needs to have an independent, reliable and fully resilient connection all the time.”

This section of the Botswana Kalahari Fiber route has taken around 18 months to complete, and involved building infrastructure that includes 15 000 gum poles and 10 368 splices on 216 termination joints. It was built entirely by local Botswana contractors and indirectly created around 100 jobs.

Read: Paratus promises lowest latency to London via Kalahari fibre

The new route runs from the Lobatse and Tlokweng borders via Gaborone, Molepolole and Letlhakeng, and then from Kang through to Charles Hill and the border into Namibia. This will connect Botswana to the 144Tbit/s Equiano subsea cable, for which Paratus Group built the landing station in 2022, and which will provide even faster, reliable connections and more diverse routes and redundancy across the region.

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“The completion of this fibre route is yet another integral intervention in Paratus Group’s overall vision to transform Africa through exceptional digital infrastructure and customer service,” Bruwer says. “It also reflects our commitment – and Paratus Group’s commitment – to Botswana and the entire region in providing the highest quality network services.”

About Paratus Botswana
Paratus Botswana is part of Paratus Group, a pan-African network operator. Paratus Botswana offers leading network connectivity, internet, voice, satellite and hosting solutions that can support any business with a full-service and full-coverage network. With this unrivalled infrastructure and network system, and a gateway licence, Paratus Botswana offers unmatched diverse network routing that ensures businesses can benefit from an unlimited, quality and stable connection all the time.

In delivering Africa’s quality network, Paratus Botswana thinks big and believes passionately in the potential of Africa. The company is investing in infrastructure and in delivering unlimited reliable and affordable connectivity, which in turn unlocks Africa’s potential.

About Paratus Group Holdings
Paratus Group is Africa’s quality network. With an eye on the future, the group is continuously investing in infrastructure and establishing itself as a key player in delivering integrated network services across Africa. Paratus Group is managed by passionate and professional operational teams in seven African countries – Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia. The business’s extended network provides a satellite connectivity-focused service in more than 35 African countries to a magnitude of customer satellite connections across Africa. This connects African businesses across the continent and delivers end-to-end service excellence. The group’s footprint extends beyond Africa to international points of presence in Europe and the US.

Born and bred in Africa, Paratus Group is thinking big as it grows its footprint to deliver Africa’s quality network. By understanding the unique opportunities that Africa offers businesses and individuals to break boundaries and to connect without limits, Paratus Group is committed to raising the bar by providing quality connectivity in Africa.