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'SAMENA Daily' - News

Zambia: Ftth Simplifies Online Services

FIBER To The Home (FTTH) service launched last week by the CEC Liquid Telecommunications Limited (CEC Liquid Telecom) targets 20,000 homes and businesses of all sizes that want to access superfast broadband with unlimited data packages.

In a CEC Liquid Telecom press release, FTTH Service will provide speeds of up to 100 Mega bite per second (Mbps), the fastest broadband ever available in Zambia. It will provide Zambians with the Real Internet enabling businesses to use cloud-based services such as Microsoft 365, Dropbox and online backups; as well as video conferencing based on OTT services, like Skype.

For home users, the FTTH service enables the whole family to be online at once using multiple devices.

Fibre Optic technology has taken off with laying of fibrebeing done by both the government and the private sector. Industry leaders laying cables include Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC), Zambia Electricity Supply Company(ZESCO), Zambia Telecommunication Communications Company, Zamtel and Liquid Telecom. ZESCO laid fibre on the electricity pole lines.

Private sector and Government need to work much closer together to create a framework which deploys complementarity, rather than un serviced areas. From my observation there is no collaboration as duplication of laying cables continues to be an issue that has not been resolved.

Having shared infrastructure on fibre could avoid costly duplication and could serve as a solution for these problems. There is needto make informed decisions for planning fiber optic networks and avoiding unnecessary duplication. Finding already laid fibre can save cities a lot of money in initial installation costs. It is better for Industry leaders to analyse fibre infrastructure of an area so that they can decide how best to utilize it in order to enhance high speed internet access and to meet the growing connectivity demands.

The FTTH service is initially available to around 8,000 homes and businesses in Lusaka including the areas of Rhodes Park, Northmead, Long Acres, Sunningdale and Kabulonga.

It is being sold to end-users through ISPs which are authorised CEC Liquid Telecom Resellers.

This year, CEC Liquid Telecom will invest around US$15 million in the FTTH build, which will continue indefinitely and is expected to reach 20,000 premises in Lusaka by year-end. Services will become available as each targeted area is connected with a likelihood that the build will extend to Copperbelt towns by the end of the year.

An initial pilot project last year received extremely positive feedback from customers who were impressed with both the speed and reliability.

Andrew Kapula, CEC Liquid Telecom Managing Director, said "This is a major milestone in the development of Zambia's telecoms infrastructure. We believe in the power of connectivity to change lives and will continue to invest in building a high-quality network which will enable our people and businesses to prosper."

Kapula said CEC Liquid Telecom's hence positions itself as the country's most reliable and consistent broadband provider. Last month, the company announced a US$5 million investment in building a new fibre link between Lusaka and Livingstone to provide both retail and wholesale customers with the most reliable, high-speed broadband connectivity in Southern Zambia.

Nic Rudnick said: "Our FTTH service has made accessing streamed, high-definition media via the Internet a reality for homes and small businesses in some of the remotest parts of Africa. As a household or business in Africa, you cannot really benefit from global Internet services unless you have a high-speed fibre connection in addition to a mobile device.

Rudnick said for FTTH to work in Africa there was need for International connectivity at a reasonable price - provided by subsea cables, Terrestrial backbone networks bringing capacity inland, Fibre rings around and the Gigabit PON (GPON) FTTH technology.



Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201502280274.html

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