Airtel Africa Telesonic, the wholesale fiber arm of Airtel Africa, has partnered with Nokia to deploy a high-capacity terrestrial fiber network across East and Central Africa, announced at the Africa Tech Festival 2025 in Cape Town.
The network will serve as a terrestrial bridge for the 2Africa subsea cable, delivering fast, reliable, and affordable connectivity to landlocked countries. Uganda is expected to benefit significantly, gaining a primary high-speed route to the global internet.
Launched in early 2024, Telesonic manages Airtel Africa’s 75,000 km fiber footprint across 14 markets. This project connects existing infrastructure to new submarine systems, positioning Telesonic as a key wholesale data player.
Nokia’s 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) will power the Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) network, supporting up to 38 Tbps across 139 nodes. The system is C+L Band Ready, enabling scalable capacity without laying new cables.
“This milestone will drive economic growth and digital inclusion across Africa,” said PD Sarma, CEO of Airtel Africa Telesonic.
The upgrade will enhance cloud services, enterprise connectivity, education, and healthcare access. It also boosts Airtel’s ability to handle webscale traffic, according to CTO Razvan Ungureanu.
Nokia’s Samer Lutfi added, “Our DWDM technology is built to fuel Africa’s digital transformation and economic growth.”
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