Paratus extends its coverage across Africa

STAFF REPORTER - Namibia’s Paratus Telecom has become the first telecoms operator outside South Africa to bridge Africa from east to west.

The company has now implemented additional routes for redundancy and is in the process of an aggressive rollout plan, building even more routes across the region to ensure maximum uptime for clients using this route.

The company reported in August 2019 that it had finally completed a terrestrial east and west coast of Africa connection between the WACS undersea cable in Swakopmund, Namibia, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Paratus Group chief operations officer Schalk Erasmus says the route extends 4 160 kilometres and is fully operational under one single autonomous system number (ASN) and boasts a round-trip time (RTT) of 62ms.

“Connecting landlocked countries that do not have access to undersea cable systems with much-needed capacity is critical to ensure that we leverage the infrastructure investment we have made across the African region,” he said.

Paratus is currently completing its Maputo link, which will not only connect into the Trans-Kalahari Fibre (TKF) route which already extends through various countries in SADC, but will also be the second East to West Coast route completed by the operator after completion of the initial route from Dar es Salaam, reported in August.

“Africa is a continent with countless opportunities, and we believe that we need to harness this potential to see more growth across the continent. It is evident that investment in infrastructure does show growth in the economy and are inextricably linked,” Erasmus said.