Liquid Intelligent Technologies Southern Africa regional chief executive officer, Wellington Makamure, has claimed that internet speed in Zimbabwe is faster than that in several developed countries such as the United Kingdom.
Makamure said that the negative perception of poor internet coverage, connectivity, and speeds in Zimbabwe deters investors. Said Makamure (via Business Times):
When it comes to fibre, we are the pacesetters. We beat London. Firstly, I would like you to do the internet speed tests in Zimbabwe and then do the same when you go to the developed world and you compare.
When we don’t talk about it, the message from outside is negative and it affects our country and investments.
It’s a sad reality. If you compare our capacity and capability with the rest of Africa and Europe in some instances you will be surprised.
I was in London last month, I took the journey from London to Birmingham by train and I was talking to people in our office in the capital there and the signals dropped on various occasions.
The way we cry when the networks drop here is just too much. This happens to the rest of the world as signals dropped on all five networks in England because I was on roaming.
I had the privilege to use all of them. I said I will communicate when I get access to the internet.
Lorreta Songola, regional chief commercial officer for Liquid Intelligent Technologies in Central Africa, said the company was undeterred by Starlink’s entry into Zimbabwe. Speaking to journalists, Songola said:
After all, competition is healthy, as this would be an opportunity for Zimbabweans to enjoy competitive services and pricing from all the players in the sector.
We already operate alongside StarLink in our other regional markets like Zambia, and we are all operating well.
With more than 80% of the market share in terms of network capacity, Liquid is the biggest internet access provider in Zimbabwe.
Liquid is present in more than 25 countries across Africa. In terms of infrastructure, it is the largest independent network provider in Africa and other emerging markets.
Liquid’s fibre broadband network covers over 110 000km in the region and over 26 000km of this fibre network being Zimbabwe.
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