Nokia to Deploy Communication Infrastructure to Connect 8 African Countries

Nokia will deploy new digital infrastructure connecting Southern and Eastern Africa.

The Finnish telecommunications company announced on Thursday (Feb. 2) that it has been selected by the pan-African technology group Liquid Intelligent Technologies (LIT) to deploy an optical transport network connecting Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Nokia will connect a brand new terrestrial network to subsea cable landing stations in Kenya, South Africa and DRC to increase network capacity across the region and enable faster internet speeds.

The new infrastructure will enhance LITs existing fiber satellite and wireless networks.

In a press release, Nokia said that once launched, the new “optical transport backbone” will enable LIT to address growing demand for capacity and better connect landlocked countries to important subsea cables.

Commenting on the news, Shahzad Manzoor Khan, Group CTO at Liquid Intelligent Technologies, said the new terrestrial fiber corridor is “the first of its kind in Africa in terms of distance and capacity.”

“Internet giants, established cloud service providers and other mega-organizations are demanding hyperscale data centers that can support high levels of performance, spikes in demand, and redundancy while enabling massive availability,” he said, adding that the new network “will transform Africa’s digital infrastructure and propel the region’s economy.”

Rajiv Aggarwal, head of Central East and West Africa (CEWA) market unit at Nokia, said the optical network “will enable Liquid Intelligent Technologies to maintain its leadership position and emerge as a preferred partner of organizations requiring massive capacity. We are delighted that our technology and expertise will help Liquid Intelligent Technologies provide the best-in-class digital infrastructure to Africa’s enterprises.”

Nokia and LIT’s partnership will likely be welcomed by digital businesses in the region, where infrastructure investment is needed to advance the continent’s digital economy.

As PYMNTS has reported, “in Africa, where many areas are disconnected from the global digital economy because of poor telecommunications networks, investing in digital transformation often means supporting companies that build critical infrastructure to increase network coverage and internet access.”

For all PYMNTS EMEA coverage, subscribe to the daily EMEA Newsletter.