31 January 2024
CSquared has had finalized the construction of a 350km fibre optic backbone in Liberia, in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The infrastructure is expected to help expand internet connectivity to an additional million people, or around 20% of the population.
The new network passes through more than 13 towns in Margibi, Bong and Nimba counties, while connecting Monrovia to the borders of Ivory Coast and Guinea. The infrastructure is Liberia's first open fibre optic backbone network. It partly uses the utility infrastructure of the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC).
“CSquared's open access fibre backbone and the capacity it will offer last mile service providers along its route are critical to advancing a diverse and competitive digital ecosystem in Liberia – one that can make the ‘internet more affordable, accessible and safe for all,’ said Jim Wright, USAID mission director.
The new backbone strengthens the CSquared network which already had more than 300km of open access metropolitan fibre in Monrovia and Montserrado. It also strengthens Liberia's national telecoms infrastructure by providing essential redundancy to the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) submarine cable, which is currently the country's sole source of international bandwidth.
