Pan-African telecoms group and a subsidiary of Econet Global, Liquid Telecom says it has completed upgrading its East Africa fibre ring to 100G, across key routes in the East Africa, including Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya.

According to a statement issued by the company, the upgrade will enable it to offer the largest lit backhaul capacity in Africa.

The statement notes that the company will, for the first time, provide 100G links to the cities of Kigali in Rwanda, Kampala, and Tororo in Uganda, and Nairobi and Mombasa in Kenya, with further 100G upgrades planned for the East Africa Fibre Ring in the near future.

Nic Rudnick, Group CEO of Liquid Telecom says, "By upgrading to 100G, Liquid Telecom is ensuring that its fibre backbone can meet the rising demand for high-bandwidth, video and internet services from businesses and consumers across the region."

"Through continuous investment, the East Africa Fibre Ring is setting new network standards for the region," he added.

Liquid Telecom says the East Africa fibre ring forms a key part of the company's pan-African fibre network, which today stretches over 50 000km.

The ring was completed in 2014, and links together Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania, with onwards connectivity to Liquid Telecom's fibre networks in Burundi and eastern DRC, also offering direct access to international subsea cables.

"The East Africa Fibre Ring remains the first fully redundant regional fibre ring with multiple routing options. In the event of an incident, internet traffic is automatically and instantly re-routed around the ring, giving consistently high speeds and continuous uptime," says the company.

The telecom has increased the ring's capacity with the use of DWDM technology from its long-time technology partner Ekinops.

The telco also says its acquisition of Tanzania's ISP Raha in February further enhanced the fibre ring. Liquid Telecom plans to invest further in the rollout of fibre across Tanzania.