The 1,000-kilometer fiber link seeks to offer businesses in both countries access to data centres and the cloud, ensuring that data does not leave the continent.

Another 711km connecting Zambia and Malawi will provide a direct and reliable connection to content caches and data centres in South Africa.

Through this, Liquid aims to catalyse African growth through fibre backbone, providing cost-effective, regional internet connectivity that enhances digital transformation.

“Kenyan and Ethiopian businesses are rapidly adopting digital technologies, and this new link will enable trade and investment between these two great nations in our region,” Liquid Intelligent Technologies CEO Rest of Africa Adil El Youssefi said.

“For Liquid Kenya, we see this growing demand being catalysed by the Kenya Kwanza Government’s Digital Superhighway Initiative , and this 1000 km of newly lit fibre is our first contribution to the private sector investment into this flagship project,” Youssefi added.

The project is implemented in partnership with the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) and Ethiopia Electric Power (EEP), and it will offer a capacity of four terabytes per second.

It will complement existing terrestrial routes across the border, and the Kenya-Ethiopia route will now have carrier-grade connectivity, which serves to rapidly expand data traffic on this important route.

“All initiatives undertaken by businesses under Cassava Technologies work towards realising our vision of a digitally connected future that leaves no African behind,” Cassava Technologies President and Group CEO Hardy Pemhiwa said.

“The completion of these fibre links is yet another milestone achieved by Liquid as it continues to lay the foundations of economic growth through increased access to high-speed connectivity,” Pemhiwa added.

The fibre network will provide Kenya and Ethiopia with connectivity performance and accessibility to the underserved towns of Suswa, Sereolipi, Ndaragwa, and Marsabit, as well as Nairobi and Mega.