Liberia’s major telecommunications company, Cellcom, has become the first in Liberia to deploy the ultrafast fibre optic network in the West African country.
This was revealed by the company’s Chief Executive, Avishia Marziano, while speaking at an event held at the company’s headquarters situated at Capital Bypass.
Marziano said: “We are delighted with this feat achieved by our organisation especially at this time. Cellcom continues to prove itself as an innovative and technology market leader as we have again demonstrated this latest position as we go live with the ACE fiber optic cable. Earlier this year, Cellcom launched the 4G network which was the last mile towards the high-speed fibre optic network.”
More than US$2.5 million has been invested by the company and has been made possible by the launching of the Africa to Europe fibre optic cable (ACE) in December.
Concerning the 4G technology, Dr Kimmie Weeks, Corporate Communications Strategist, said: “We have created the road to the super highway so that our customers will be able to access and enjoy the benefits of the fiber. The investment Cellcom made in its new 4G technology pushed the company to the top in terms of being ready to activate and use the fibre optic cable.”
Describing how Cellcom will deploy both 4G and fibre optic to its subscribers, Marziano said “the marriage of Cellcom’s 4G network to the fibre optic cable meant that customers could now enjoy low latency connectivity.”
He added that the company expects a reduction in the cost of Internet packages.
“Our 4G network is the only super-fast network in Liberia, now that we have connected it to the fibre optic cable, it will now be 100 times faster comparing to any other network in Liberia.
“It took a lot of investment and commitment on our part to do this, but because we believe in the Liberian people and we believe that this will have a dynamic socio-economic impact on the development of Liberia – so we were willing to take the risk,” he said.
Yesterday, the company officially commenced the provision of free unlimited and unrestricted fibre optic internet access to subscribers on its 4G network.
“We want people to enjoy the fibre optic connectivity without any restrictions so they can understand how this technology combined with the 4G network can transform the country,” the company head said.
Weeks added: “It is important for the public to understand that our 4G network and the fibre are not two different things. Right now, our 4G network is connected via very powerful satellites, now that we have the fiber, we will terminate use of these satellites and depend on the fibre cables to provide the speed and reliability we need to continue to be the first and fastest.”
Cellcom 4G users will be the first to experience unparalleled high speed internet after the connection of the 4G network to the fiber optic cable.
