Liquid Intelligent Technologies eyes internet connectivity expansion in South Sudan
From cloud, and fibre optics to cybersecurity, Liquid Intelligent Technologies has placed itself as South Sudan’s leading and most comprehensive tech services provider within barely four years of operations in Africa’s youngest nation.
To enhance the standards of services provided, the company appointed Martin Mushambadope, a seasoned business professional with over 20 years of experience in the executive role as the Chief Executive Officer in July 2021.
Mushambadope told Juba Echo that Liquid Intelligent Technologies has lined up a series of tech-driven projects to support the South Sudanese government, humanitarian organizations, and the business community almost a year on in his role.
Registered as the pioneering technology company in the country in 2019, Liquid Intelligent Technologies has connected offices and homes through the unprecedented times of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
Mushambadope says his company has created a domain solution to support market growth in the country. The CEO noted that the majority of the South Sudanese population are young people who are active online.
He says with support from the National Communication Authority they have installed VSAT in the metropolitan city of Juba with wireless backup satellite in all the remote areas of the country.
The Liquid’s CEO caught up with Juba Echo in a revealing interview. Below is the full excerpt.
Tell us about Liquid Intelligent Technologies and what it does
Liquid Intelligent Technologies is a business of Cassava Technologies, a pan-African technology group present in more than 20 countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa.
Liquid has firmly established itself as the leading provider of pan-African digital infrastructure with an extensive fibre broadband network covering over 100,000 km. Liquid Intelligent Technologies is also leveraging its digital network to provide Cloud and Cyber Security solutions through strategic partnerships with leading global players.
Liquid Intelligent Technologies is a comprehensive technology solutions group that provides customised digital solutions to public and private sector enterprises and Small & Medium Enterprises across the continent.
What are the major services you provide to customers in South Sudan?
We provide internet connectivity via fibre, satellite, and other wireless solutions. We also support the country with our managed services, Cyber Security and cloud services.
We have also introduced fibre to the home which makes internet more affordable enabling customers to talk to their loved ones from all over the world as well as chat or have video conferences using Microsoft Teams. We will continue to propel South Sudan’s digital transformation with our fast and reliable internet connectivity via fibre, satellite, and other wireless solutions.
Tell us about your fibre infrastructure and how it underpins South Sudan’s digital transformation?
We partnered with the government of South Sudan and took a landmark step in spearheading the country’s first fibre network in 2019. Our breakthrough investment helps ensure the delivery of fast and affordable internet access to the people of South Sudan, the business community, government and civil society, and ultimately help the country progress towards realising the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The infrastructure development improves social mobility, enable economic diversification and drive inclusive private sector-led growth and productive employment.
Covering more than 100,000 km of high-speed terrestrial fibre in Africa, we directly connect the South Sudan businesses to the rest of the world.
You have installed a satellite back-up – VSAT – to enable seamless running of operations in South Sudan. Tell us about that
We have investedextensively in our award-winning VSAT Broadband and Satellite services that extends fast and reliable internet access to remotest regions, while providing a back-up service to those living in urban centres. The VSAT connectivity can be used as the secondary link in Juba (to the existing fibre link), and primary in other parts of the country. The VSAT solution is being deployed with a capacity throughput of up to 35Mbps, but through further investment, it will soon be increased to 50Mbps.
What is Liquid doing to ensure the delivery of good internet and to mitigate outages in South Sudan?
There are ongoing road expansion works on Juba-Nimule highway 200km stretch which also happens to be the same stretch upon which our cable is deployed. There are a couple of contractors excavating on different sections. Inadvertently this has resulted in multiple damages to our underground cable.
We have camped a fully-equipped technical teams along the Nimule highway to reduce the MTTR in the event of a cable cut. We are also seized with rehabilitation some of the most vulnerable sections of our link in a bid to increase service availability.
We have also initiated deployment of a backup route that we targeted to commission by June this year.
As an interim relief to some of our customers we have installed satellite back up to enable seamless running of operations. The same VSAT solution is also being deployed commercially throughout the country with a capacity throughput of up to 35Mbps.
How do you benefit South Sudanese businesses?
We directly connect the South Sudan businesses to the rest of the world. We have already covered more than 100,000 km of high-speed terrestrial fibre in Africa. Our cloud services are anchored on our world class data centres in Africa. We offer scalable solutions at cost competitive value for money. Added to these we connect anyone at any location using our VSAT platform.
What is your future plan for South Sudan?
We will continue to propel South Sudan’s digital transformation with the provision our fast and reliable internet connectivity via fibre, satellite, and other wireless solutions. We will continue to ensure the delivery of fast and affordable internet access to the people of South Sudan, the business community, government and civil society, and ultimately help the country progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
