Paratus unites its sub-Saharan networks for Paratus 500 offering

Details: John Tanner; Category: Operators; 11 November 2025; 10043 views

Pan-African telecoms network services provider Paratus Group announced on Monday it has launched “Paratus 500”, a service that leverages all of its licenced fibre and satellite operations in 15 sub-Saharan markets as a single network.

According to a group statement, Paratus 500 (so named because the company’s footprint reaches 500 million people south of the equator, representing over a third of Africa’s population and GDP) enables Paratus to uniquely connect its licensed operations across its African markets with a contiguous telecoms network across its portfolio.

The move follows Paratus’ expansion into seven African markets earlier this year, including Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and – in the past month – Rwanda and Uganda. Paratus also has licensed operations in Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia.

Paratus’ infrastructure includes terrestrial fibre routes, subsea cable landing points and integrated satellite services, established via years of sustained investment in infrastructure, local subsidiaries and strategic partnerships.

Paratus 500 includes the East West Connect route that stretches from the east coast of Africa in Maputo, through Johannesburg and across Botswana and Namibia, to the west coast of Africa at the Equiano Cable Landing Station in Swakopmund, as well as strategic routes from Johannesburg to Lubumbashi in the southern DRC, crossing through Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Paratus 500 will also leverage the group’s five satellite teleports and its satellite service offerings, including LEO satellite broadband services from Eutelsat OneWeb and Starlink, with whom Paratus signed distribution agreements in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Paratus Group CEO Schalk Erasmus said the group’s sub-equatorial footprint enables it to deliver dependable service across every operating market with secure, scalable and high-quality connectivity.

“With Paratus 500, we now have the most coverage under licence in sub-equatorial Africa, a goal we have worked towards for many years,” he said in a statement. “Our continued investment in fibre, satellite and strategic partnerships empowers us to deliver scalable connectivity solutions to wholesale, enterprise and individual customers – providing the freedom to connect anywhere, anytime.”