Wholesale African fibre optic supplier Liquid Telecom has built the first fibre optic link into Somalia, the company announced at AfricaCom in Cape Town.

The network connects the country to neighbouring countries, the rest of the world and even undersea cables by fibre for the first time in the country.

Specifically, the fibre link connects across the Kenya-Somalia border and then directly to the fibre network of Hormuud Telecom Somalia (Hortel) for local termination.

Hortel is a private telecommunications firm in Somailia that has over two million subscribers. The company offers a variety of telecommunication services such as GSM voice and text services, 3G, fixed line and data services.

Meanwhile, Hortel’s fibre network is planned to provide Liquid Telecom’s customers with robust connectivity in southern and central Somalia.

These customers, in turn, include the likes of fixed and mobile operators, wholesale carriers and enterprises.

“We will be providing the people of Somalia with access to the global internet at higher speeds and with more capacity available than ever before,” said Nic Rudnick, chief executive officer of the Liquid Telecom Group.

Hormuud Telecom chairman and chief executive officer, Ahmed Yuusuf, said, "The connection of the HORTEL network to Liquid Telecom's international fibre network is a landmark for Somalia and will provide our customers with the fastest and most cost effective communications speeds available. This is a significant accomplishment for both companies.”

Liquid Telecom’s pan-African fibre network spans more than 17,000 km across Botswana, DRC, Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

It also provides connectivity into the five main subsea cable systems landing in Africa: the West African Cable System (WACS), the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (Eassy), SEACOM, SAT3 and the East African Marine System (TEAMs).