CEC, Liquid Telecoms form joint venture

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CEC, Liquid Telecoms form joint venture
By CYNTHIA MWALE

COPPERBELT Energy Corporation (CEC) and Liquid Telecommunication Holdings Limited have entered into a joint venture agreement to build and provide services on a next generation high capacity fibre optic telecommunication network in Zambia at a cost of about US$30 million.

The joint venture (JV), with a 50 percent stake each, will see the creation of a new company, CEC Liquid Telecommunication Limited.

This is contained in a statement obtained by the Daily Mail in Lusaka on April 4.

The transaction has been approved by the boards of both companies subject to regulatory approval from authorities and stakeholders.

The statement indicates that CEC Liquid Telecommunication Limited awaits approval from Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA), Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and other relevant stakeholders.

It says CEC and Liquid Telecom will provide wholesale capacity and terrestrial internet band width using fibre-optic technology to the public and private operators licensed by ZICTA.

It says the JV will initially be capitalised with an investment of about US$30 million, shared equally between the two parties.

“The new JV will provide services on an operator neutral basis and will not participate in the retail market segment, although end-users will benefit from cheaper and faster internet and other data services as the new JV significantly increases the capacity available in Zambia,” it reads.

The statement says the JV will introduce a number of advanced technologies and services, including the implementation of multiple protocol label switching technology (MPLS) that will benefit the end-user with efficient and effective connection.

MPLS is a mechanism in high-performance telecommunications networks which directs and carries data from one network node to the next with the help of labels.

Liquid Telecom has its headquarters in Mauritius and offices in Zambia, United Kingdom, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Lesotho.