Kenyan data firm to boost Rwanda broadband services

Kenya Data Networks (KDN) has announced plans to extend fibre cable network to Kigali with a connection to other East African Community partner states’ major cities.The broadband provider firm has already extended its fibre network into Tanzania and will be the first operator to connect the East African capitals of Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Kampala and Kigali on a single network.This comes as a boost to Rwanda’s already laid fibre optic cable which seeks to enhance access to various broadband services, like e-Governance, e-Banking, e-Learning, e-Health, and other applications.KDN, which operates under Liquid Telecom, a Mauritius-based telecom company that provides fibre optic and satellite connections, has laid a 120 kilometre fibre link from Nairobi to Namanga on the border of Kenya and Tanzania.Liquid Telecom has built Africa’s largest fibre network spanning over 13,000km from the north of Uganda to Cape Town in South Africa, on a single thread. “We believe that technology should be for everyone and completion of the Namanga fibre will be another major milestone in consolidating Liquid’s fibre coverage as the widest in Africa,” said Nic Rudnick, CEO of Liquid Telecom.He stated that with the completion of the KDN’s Namanga fibre, the connection will proceed to Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.The devolopment is designed to ensure that terrestrial connectivity is maintained in the event of any future damage to the submarine cables serving East Africa.Mediterranean submarine cables have suffered disruptions several times in the past few years. These disruptions are usually attributed to accidents involving ship propellers.Didier Nkurikiyimfura, the director general in charge of ICT at the Ministry of Youth and ICT, yesterday told The New Times; “We welcome this new development. This is a major milestone towards increasing the reliability, resilience and speed of communications systems provided to East African citizens and government.”Rwanda presently relies on three submarine fibre optic cable systems for the internet traffic connection through local telecommunication companies and ISPs; EASSY, The East African Marine Systems (TEAMS) and SEACOM.

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Kenyan data firm to boost Rwanda broadband services