Mauritius-based wholesale carrier Liquid Telecom has secured a US$150m loan to extend its fibre network in Africa.
Standard Chartered faciliated the loan, which was provided by large global investment banks, the operator, controlled by the South…
Mauritius-based wholesale carrier Liquid Telecom has secured a US$150m loan to extend its fibre network in Africa.
Standard Chartered faciliated the loan, which was provided by large global investment banks, the operator, controlled by the South Africa-based Econet Wireless Group, said in a statement.
Over the past five years, Liquid Telecom claims to have built Africa’s largest independent cross-border fibre network. Spanning 18,000km, the network runs through 15 eastern and central African countries and connects to subsea cables.
“The new investment will be used to extend Liquid Telecom’s fibre network into additional countries as part of the company’s continuous expansion strategy,” the statement read. “It will also finance ongoing Fibre To The Home (FTTH) builds in Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia and Zimbabwe which will provide homes and businesses with unlimited data packages and 100 mbps, the fastest broadband ever available in Africa.”
The telco supplies fibre optic, satellite and international carrier services to other wholesale carriers, mobile operators, ISPs, financial institutions, other businesses and homes. It also operates retail businesses in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Working under various brands, Liquid Telecom has operating entities in Botswana, DRC, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, UK, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In August 2015, Econet signed a US$150m debt financing, led by Afreximbank.
