By Jonathan Mbiriyamveka
Bandwidth and Cloud Services (BCS) Group managing director Mr Yonas Maru says the company and millions of Zimbabweans will soon enjoy better and cheaper Internet connectivity.
Speaking at the launch of the company’s first network in Zimbabwe, and the first deployment of fiber along rail tracks in Africa, Mr Maru said their vision was to make Zimbabwe the Internet traffic hub of Southern Africa.
“We believe that expensive and inaccessible telecom infrastructure keeps our citizens poor . . . while cutting-edge technology allows us to leapfrog the development ladder by jumping over the need for 400 years of physical industrial development by sinking a 4-inch fiber tube 4- feet in the ground,” he said.
“In the future, we envision a world where the wellbeing of our children and of our elders is not limited to the quality of the teachers or the hospitals on the ground . . . but rather the collective learning that educational and health care professionals in Europe and across the world are able to offer through online education and, eventually, virtual reality…for free.
“With this vision driving our business, BCS along the rail tracks from Vic falls to Kasumbalesa to Lumumbabshi, and Kananga up to the mouth of the Kasai river at Ilebo and branch off toKalemie.
“From Kalemie, BCS shall lay fiber in Lake Tanganyika (materials are already on the lake shore at Kigoma) — connecting Northern and Southern Africa . . . and within the Kasai and Congo rivers from Ilebo (where the rail track stops) to Kinshasa — connecting Eastern to Western Africa. “
Half of the traffic from the network being built is expected to pass through the network in Zimbabwe.
Bandwidth and Cloud Services (BCS) Group is a provider of fiber and Half of the traffic from the network being built is expected to pass through the network in Zimbabwe.wholesale Internet services to mobile operators and Internet service providers in East, South and Central Africa.
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