Construction of East Africa’s first ever internet fibre network ring has been completed.

On Thursday, networking firm Liquid Telecom said it finished the build of the ‘East Africa Fibre Ring’, which connects Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania with the rest of the globe.

The network is expected to boost internet redundancy efforts in the region to ensure continuity of connectivity.

“For the first time, in the event of a fibre cut, internet traffic is automatically and instantly re-routed around the ring, giving consistently high speeds and continuous uptime for businesses and their customers, ensuring business continuity across the region,” says Liquid Telecom in a press statement.

Nic Rudnick, chief executive officer of the Liquid Telecom Group, added in the statement: “This is a historic service improvement for the people and businesses of east Africa, especially those in Rwanda, DRC, Burundi and Uganda, who will not have experienced such reliable internet previously.”

“Customers will immediately start to feel the benefits from our $20million investment in the region,” said Rudnick.

The fibre ring forms part of Liquid Telecom’s Pan-African fibre network spanning more than 17,000km.