Paratus Zambia, part of the pan-African telco Paratus Group, and Meta have announced plans to co-invest in the construction of a 900km open access metro fibre network in Zambia, with the infrastructure expected to improve connectivity in underserved communities in ten major urban locations.
According to IT News Africa, Paratus Zambia will own, build and operate the network, over which it will offer wholesale services to mobile network operators (MNOs) and ISPs. The infrastructure will reportedly connect to the Paratus carrier-neutral data centre in Lusaka, where Paratus can serve local businesses directly with high-quality connectivity.
Under the network rollout plans, the first phase of work will see fiber reach six cities by January 2023, while a second phase – scheduled for completion by the end of 2023 – will see a further four towns connected. The ten locations to be covered over the duration of the project have been named as: Chambishi, Chililabombwe, Chingola, Kabwe, Kitwe, Livingstone, Luanshya, Mufulira, Ndola and Solwezi.
Speaking about the plans, Paratus Zambia MD, Marius van Vuuren was said to have confirmed that work was already underway, with the executive cited as saying: ‘We aim to complete the first 280km by November and activate it by early January … This is a significant relationship for Paratus not only because of its importance to the Zambian economy, but also because we will be helping to provide millions of people and hundreds of businesses with the opportunity to connect to the Internet via a faster and more secure fibre network.’