Kenyan telecoms company Safaricom has acquired Indian rival, Essar undersea fibre optic network, The East Africa Marine system (TEAMs) for an undisclosed fee.

Safaricom said it made the purchase to offer faster and more efficient Internet data services as well support the upgrade of its network to 4G.

“It is an integral part of our data strategy to have sufficient international capacity to feed the demands of our growing customer base and to support our terrestrial fibre strategy and LTE (4G network) plans,” Safaricom said.

The deal has pushed Safaricom’s ownership of undersea fibre optic network to 32.5 percent, a share that guarantees the operator additional capacity in TEAMs, which is offered based on shareholding, according to a Business Daily report.

“The additional shareholding in Teams entitles Safaricom to have increased capacity on the 1.28 TB/s international cable,” added Safaricom.

Essar, on its part, said that it had been looking for a strategic investor to inject cash and stave off a liquidity crisis, and added that it used proceeds from the deal to sustain operations.

“The stake was sold at an undisclosed figure. The finances from this sale went towards our yuMobile’s operations,” said Madhur Taneja, the Essar Kenya CEO.

Safaricom had 9.33 million data users in June and 20.1 million mobile phone subscribers, and currently relies on other carriers that have their own fibre networks, the company said.