Bharti Airtel ties up with Liquid Telecom in Africa

Bharti Airtel has signed an agreement with Liquid Telecom to share its fibre network to connect its mobile base stations across Africa, which will enable subscribers in Africa to access better speeds on 3G and 4G networks.

"The framework agreement enables Airtel operations to leverage Liquid Telecom's existing 20,000km-long fibre network across east, central and southern Africa, as well as enjoy new purpose-built fibre infrastructure, to connect Airtel's mobile base stations and enterprise customers with fibre," Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

The company, however, did not share the financial details of the deal.

Liquid Telecom is an independent data, voice and IP provider in eastern, central and southern Africa. It supplies fibre optic, satellite and international carrier services to Africa's mobile operators, internet service players and businesses.

"Airtel has invested significantly in mobile broadband technology across its African footprint and this agreement will deliver end to end fibre connectivity to our 3G and 4G base stations," Airtel Africa CEO Christian de Faria said.

Airtel offers mobile services across 17 African countries.

The agreement will enable it to rapidly connect its mobile base stations and enterprise customers with unlimited capacity. "Mobile operators are relying on Internet access and data services to grow their revenues. MNOs, and in particular Airtel, have managed to attract a large number of customers on their 3G and 4G networks and now need to strengthen their backhaul to deliver a super-fast internet access service," Liquid Telecom Group CEO Nic Rudnick said.