Liquid Telecom steps up resources on Eutelsat’s Africa coverage satellites for immediate and fast Internet connectivity

18 July 2014

Liquid Telecom, is stepping up resources leased from Eutelsat Communications to meet increasing demand for IP connectivity from a broad portfolio of clients that include national parks, out of town offices and remote mining and exploration companies.

Liquid Telecom and Eutelsat have extended their relationship to 2019 with a new multi-transponder contract for satellite capacity delivering premium coverage of Sub-Saharan Africa. The additional capacity is on the EUTELSAT 7B satellite that joined EUTELSAT 7A at 7° East on July 16. Liquid Telecom has also transferred existing traffic at 7° East onto EUTELSAT 7B to takeadvantage of the performance of its African footprint and has plans to ramp-up further capacity over the coming 12 months.

The new resources support Liquid Telecom’s objectives to expand satellite operations in Africa. As part of a multi-million dollar (US) investment in its satellite business, the company recently became the first operator to build a satellite hub at Teraco’s vendor-neutral earth station in South Africa. The hub enables Liquid Telecom to route African traffic in Africa rather than backhauling it via Europe as many operators need to do. By keeping African data in Africa, it can measurably increase connectivity speeds for its customers.

Nic Rudnick, CEO of Liquid Telecom, commented on the new contract: “The strong features of EUTELSAT 7B, combined with our new teleport facilities in South Africa, equip us to meet growing demand from businesses for satellite-based IP connections. Our fibre and satellite networks complement each other, enabling our company to provide high-speed, cost-effective broadband services to remote areas where it is neither commercially viable nor practical to lay fibre.”

Rodney Benn, Eutelsat Regional Vice President for Africa, added: “As a longstanding partner of Liquid Telecom we are delighted to take our collaboration to a new level with this multi-year agreement that highlights the value of our enhanced resources at 7° East as they contribute to building a digital infrastructure across Africa. Liquid Telecom has integrated satellite as core to their vision of quickly and efficiently taking Internet connectivity to the parts of Africa that other infrastructure has forgotten, and we are proud to accompany them on this journey.”