Groundbreaking Infrastructure Expansion: Enhancing Connectivity and Paving the Way for Regional Resilience
Due to Botswana's strategic location in Southern Africa, it is playing an increasingly vital role in regional interconnectivity. Bordering Namibia and South Africa, Botswana serves as the shortest and fastest route between the recently installed Equiano subsea cable and the Teraco Data Centre in Johannesburg. Furthermore, Botswana plays a crucial role as a redundant route for many Sub-Saharan African countries in the event of subsea cable failures, as experienced recently.?
Recognising these opportunities, Paratus invested in its most significant fiber project to date, an 840 km Optic Fiber cable from Gaborone to Mamuno/Buitepos border post. Upon completion, this project will enable Paratus to provide seamless connectivity from the South African border to the Namibian border and, in Namibia, all the way to Swakopmund, without third-party involvement.?
This was Paratus Botswana’s biggest fiber project and investment to date and required a great deal of preparation and planning. Fortunately, Paratus benefits from a deep pool of knowledge, tapping into the expertise of both the wider Paratus group and our in-country teams. While challenges were inevitable, insights from previous fiber builds across various countries helped minimize and prevent potential issues.?
One of the major challenges that we had to overcome was the remoteness of a significant part of the route coupled with the associated logistics. If you are familiar with Botswana and the beauty of it, you would understand that certain villages and fuel stops are separated by hundreds of kilometers.?
After finalising the route, we worked closely with our hardware supplier to maximise the location of our repeater sites along this route. Despite utilising cutting-edge DWDM technology and equipment (the 1st in Botswana), we faced limitations with a 100km distance between repeat sites. Of the eight repeat sites on our route, three are so remote that they are powered by solar and battery systems, with generator backup.?
As we near completion of the Botswana Kalahari Fiber (BKF) project, we plan to go live on the fiber early in 2024, with great optimism and anticipation.??
Despite the magnitude of the BKF project, we simultaneously completed another significant project, a fiber ring around Gaborone, stretching from Phakalane to Kgale.??
Additionally, we are in the final stages of completing an international route to Pioneer Border Gate at Lobatse from Gaborone. Upon completion, this third project will provide full redundancy from Gaborone to Teraco for our other Paratus fiber route via Tlokweng (Kopfontein in SA), ensuring uninterrupted connectivity for our customers.??
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By January 2024, Paratus will boast an impressive 3 independently owned and operated international fiber routes connecting Botswana to the world!?
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