Paratus Botswana completes metro fiber ring in Gaborone

Paratus Botswana has completed its new metro fiber ring around the capital of Gaborone.

The local subsidiary of pan-African operator Paratus Group announced that the fiber network will provide fully secured, high-speed connectivity to businesses and individuals in the area.

In a statement, Paratus Botswana said many of its financial services clients, including leading banks, have already switched over to the new network.

Completing the project comes after three years of planning, something the company made public in May 2022.

"The metro fiber ring in Gaborone allows secure connectivity and it is unique in that it is totally independent and fully protected," said Paratus Botswana Country MD Shawn Bruwer.

"We offer business customers the network service they deserve and need because it bolsters the ever-increasing bandwidth and uptime requirements," Bruwer continued.

The Paratus Gaborone fiber network also strengthens the company's network resilience and gives businesses uninterrupted access to essential services even in the event of an outage or network disruption, the company continued.

Paratus Botswana's ongoing investment

Paratus Botswana initially invested in microwave infrastructure, creating an independent ring in the capital, and extended that across the border into South Africa.

With its latest fiber investment and the new Gaborone fiber ring, Paratus Botswana connects all critical areas in the city and provides Botswana with an add-on to its existing infrastructure backbone.

The fiber ring forms part of Paratus Botswana's ongoing investment in its network infrastructure to meet the growing demand for telecommunications services in the Southern African country.

"The completion of the fiber ring aligns with the government's plan of Botswana Vision 2036 which is aimed at transforming Botswana from an upper-middle-income to a high-income country," the company added.

Paratus said its fiber network will provide fully secured, high-speed connectivity to businesses and individuals in the Gaborone area. (Source: Fiber optic photo created by freepik - www.freepik.com)

The three-year project involved the construction of a fiber-optic network that connects business and residential areas in Botswana.

By circling Gaborone, the fiber network also complements existing services, including national and international network services, Internet, voice, satellite, structured cabling, and hosting solutions. It also connects to five data centers across the city.

"The completion of this fiber ring forms part of the Paratus Group vision to transform Africa through digital infrastructure and customer service," said Paratus Group CEO Schalk Erasmus.

Fiber connections everywhere

As numerous companies attempt to connect the African population, fiber connectivity deals have been happening in several African countries.

Just last week, Pan-African technology group Liquid Dataport launched its newest fiber route connecting Mombasa in Kenya to Muanda on the west coast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

That new route follows a partnership between Liquid Intelligent Technologies and Nokia on a new terrestrial fiber route connecting Mombasa, Kenya, and Johannesburg, South Africa.

In May, Angola Cables and Orange partnered on an infrastructure sharing agreement on the West African Djoliba Network.

Furthermore, MTN Group's Bayobab, partnered with infrastructure investment agency Africa50 to build terrestrial fiber cable worth US$320 million.

Elsewhere, pan-African operator Vodacom announced ambitions to increase its fiber reach, specifically in low-income areas, through a deal with South African fiber company MAZIV. But Vodacom has been waiting 18 months for the investment to be approved.

These connectivity deals also including partnerships between European Investment Bank (EIB) and Bandwidth and Cloud Services (BCS) to build fiber optic backbone network in DRC in March 2023.

In January 2023, Dark Fiber Africa (DFA) and BCS also completed the first stage of their long-haul fiber backbone project in Zimbabwe.

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*Top image source: Paratus Botswana.

— Matshepo Sehloho, Associate Editor, Connecting Africa