Menlo Park-based social networking firm, Facebook Inc. has struck a partnership with local telecommunications company Airtel Uganda to lay fiber optic cables of over 800 kilometers in Uganda by the end of the year.
The development according to officials is in line with Facebook’s move to extend internet services to the most remote areas and in Uganda particularly, the company hopes to provide internet access for more than 3 million people.
In the partnership, Airtel will provide the last mile wireless network and is partnering with BCS to provide the actual internet service.
“The fiber will offer more support for “mobile operators’ base stations,” Airtel officials further revealed.
In the recent past, Google has been leasing its Fiber network to other telecom companies in Kampala including Smile Telecom and Africell and other Internet service providers (ISPs) which have helped boost the speed of broadband access in Kampala through 4G-LTE technology the most recent launched Roke Telkom’s WiFi hotspost.
The partnership with Facebook is projected to become a big boost 4G LTE network with enough bandwidth within Kampala and surrounding areas.
Details of the cost of the whole project remain scanty as neither Facebook nor Airtel could readily reveal.[related-posts]
