By KENNEDY MUPESENI –

CEC Liquid Telecom has invested US$15 million on the Fibre to the Home (FTTH) project which will connect 20,000 premises in Lusaka by the end of this year.
So far, about 8,000 homes and businesses in Lusaka’s Rhodes Park, Northmead, Long Acres, Sunningdale and Kabulonga have been connected.
Managing director Andrew Kapula said in Lusaka yesterday that the company had invested around $15 million in the FTTH project, which is expected to reach 20,000 premises in Lusaka by the end of 2015.
“This is a major milestone in the development of Zambia’s telecoms infrastructure and we believe in the power of connectivity to change lives as we continue to invest in building a high quality network which will enable our people and businesses to prosper,” Mr Kapula said.
The FTTH service would provide up to 100 megabits which is one of the fastest and provide real internet enabling businesses to use cloud-best services such as Microsoft 365, Dropbox and online back ups as well as video conferencing.
“An initial pilot project last year received extremely positive feedback from customers who were impressed with both speed and reliability,” he said.
Last month, the company announced a US$5 million investment in building a new fibre link between Lusaka and Victoria Falls in Livingstone to provide both retail and wholesale customers and the project is expected to be completed by June 2015.
CEC Liquid Telecom is a joint venture between Liquid Telecom Group and Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC).
International access is through the multi-award-winning pan-African fibre and satellite networks of the Liquid Telecom Group, which connect to five different sea cables.