Liquid Telecom, a fiber optic internet operator with a presence in east, central and southern Africa, has recently announced the launch of “Hai”, its new internet service provider (ISP) brand in Zambia which will help households and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access the fastest internet speeds up to 20 Mbps countrywide.
Fiber to the home (FTTH) services with the possibility to deploy satellite connection in regions where the fiber is not yet available, data protection, Wi-Fi hotspot for public places, video-on-demand, and interactive education are among the services available under the new brand.
“Hai” is product of an expansion plan that Liquid Telecom started in January 2015, when it extended its fiber network from Lusaka to Livingston connecting eight southern cities in a total length of 500 km and at a cost of USD 5 million.
With the completion of this project, Liquid Telecom reached a fiber network total length of 5,000 km in Zambia built by its partner company Copperbelt Energy Corporation Plc (CEC), which is currently working on further expanding the network to border towns of Kazungula and Sesheke to connect Zambia with Namibia and Botswana.
Liquid Telecom Group’s CEO, Mr. Nic Rudnick, explained in the statement that the company has established as the premier ISP in Africa with a total fiber network length in the continent of 18,000 km, and that it will keep working in Zambia as part of its retail market expansion objective.
“Hai” has started to provide its services in Zambia on its own already available website where it offers internet plans with download speeds from 0.5 Mbps to 20 Mbps and from ZMW 557 to ZMW 1,580 monthly.
According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Zambia registered a total of 2,313,013 internet users as of 2014 which represents a 15.40% of the total population and places the country in the positon 92 in the ranking of countries by internet usage.
