Liquid Telecom connects KCB S.Sudan branches to network

Liquid Telecom Kenya CEO Ben Roberts. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA 

By OKUTTAH MARK

In Summary

• In East Africa, VSAT services are playing a key role in bringing services closer to the people, with the provision of seamless connectivity within the banks.

Liquid Telecom Kenya has connected KCB's 24 branches in South Sudan with a wide area network satellite technology, allowing faster and more efficient banking services for its customers.

The move marks the ICT firm’s race to grow its market share among large corporate customers in the region where it is facing increased competition from rivals like AccessKenya and Wananchi Group.

The Very Small Aperture Technology (VSAT) enables the branches to access Internet links to the world’s satellite communication network, making it easy for them to talk to each other in real time.

This was not possible previously and made it difficult for customers far from the branches to access information in real time. The linking of the branches through this technology has however changed this.

In East Africa, VSAT services are playing a key role in bringing services closer to the people, with the provision of seamless connectivity within the banks.

“Limited ICT infrastructure has hampered regional banking institutions and businesses, as many have had to spend extra to set up ATMs and internal connections,” said Ben Roberts, CEO Liquid Telecom Kenya.

“VSAT services are closing this gap by providing quality uninterrupted service,” he said during the announcement.

The project with KCB South Sudan started on December 1 and was completed by January 31 with Liquid Telecom making at least two bank installations per week.

This followed extensive pre-planning and coordination between the two companies to ensure a smooth and swift rollout to improve banking services for their South Sudanese customers.