Cassava Technologies (www.CassavaTechnologies.com), a global technology leader in African heritage, and AXON Networks (AXON) (www.AXON-Networks.com), a global leader in intelligent network platforms, today announced a strategic partnership to jointly develop, deploy and manage Africa’s first end-to-end Operator-as-a-Service (OaaS) platform. (https://apo-opa.co/49XR2we).
In a bold step to unlock Africa’s AI and digital future, customers and service providers will leverage AXON’s AI-enabled, real-time, multi-tenant, digital twin-enabled platform across Cassava’s extensive high-speed fiber backbone to connect millions of people and businesses across the continent and forge new avenues of economic development and innovation.
The partnership was announced at Kaunder Conference 2026 (https://apo-opa.co/4pZn2pB) in Cape Town, South Africa. The conference is the flagship event of Kaunder’s Visionary Leadership Network, bringing together 500 global investors, family office presidents and corporate decision makers, and is one of the largest gatherings of international private capital ever assembled in the Southern Hemisphere.
“As businesses of all sizes continue to digitize their operations, they need cost-effective, flexible, and high-performance network solutions that eliminate time-consuming manual design and configuration. By partnering with AXON Networks, we are moving beyond traditional hardware-centric infrastructure to create a truly programmable, AI-managed network, which significantly reduces operational costs and improves access for customers and service providers.” said Hadi Pemuhiwa, President and Group CEO of Technologies. “This transformation enables us to treat our transcontinental fiber network as a dynamic digital platform, allowing us to provision and modify customer networks in near real-time, rather than days or weeks. We intend to go beyond connectivity and become a partner in our customers’ digital transformation journeys.”
This AI-first connectivity platform is the foundation for accelerating the digital transformation of African businesses of all sizes, including other telecommunications service providers. The Operator-as-a-Service platform provides a secure, private, high-speed data infrastructure that enables mobile network operators, LEO satellite providers, and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to achieve unprecedented agility, intelligence, and reach. It is designed to support these service providers in unlocking new opportunities for growth, innovation, and AI adoption.
“It is incredibly exciting to partner with Cassava, which has an unparalleled fiber footprint and investments in AI-enabled data centers across the continent, to integrate our Operator-as-a-Service platform with real-time digital twin technology at this scale,” said Martin Manniche, CEO and Founder of AXON Networks. “We are not just mirroring networks; we are virtualizing our entire infrastructure into a live AI-driven ecosystem that leverages this extensive backbone, including Cassava’s planned AI-powered factories, delivering the promise of growth, prosperity, and AI sovereignty to Africa and its people. This is a transformative opportunity to provide a foundational platform for our economy and redefine the future for generations to come, and we couldn’t have found a better partner to make this vision a reality.” ”
“We are honored that Cassava Technologies and AXON Networks have chosen Counder Conference 2026 as the platform for this groundbreaking announcement,” said Michel Weiss, founding partner and CEO of Counder, and Leonard Stiegeler, founding partner and chairman of Counder. « This partnership embodies exactly what Counder was designed to foster. It’s a trusted connection between visionary leaders that sparks meaningful collaboration and delivers measurable impact. When world-class organizations gather in Cape Town to drive new trends and market initiatives, we see the power of our mission in action: bringing leaders together to collaborate on tomorrow’s most important opportunities. »
AXON’s groundbreaking OaaS solution creates a living, dynamic model of Cassava’s fiber network, which consists of more than 110,000 km of terrestrial and subsea fiber, satellite capacity, and wireless connectivity. AXON’s digital twin technology transforms networks into self-learning, autonomous, and self-optimizing systems that reduce operational complexity, accelerate service delivery, introduce cost efficiencies, and ensure connectivity resiliency at scale.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Liquid Intelligent Technologies.
About Cassava Technologies:
Cassava Technologies is a global technology leader with an African heritage, providing a vertically integrated ecosystem of digital services and infrastructure that enables digital transformation. Cassava is headquartered in the UK and has offices in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the United States. The company provides products and services to customers in 94 countries through its business units: Cassava AI, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Liquid C2, African Data Centers, and Sasai Fintech. These solutions further the company’s ambition to position itself as a global technology company with African heritage. www.CassavaTechnologies.com
About AXON Networks:
AXON Networks (www.AXON-Networks.com) is a global leader in intelligent network platforms, known for its award-winning digital twin technology that enables real-time, predictive, and self-optimizing operations. Its Operator-as-a-Service platform is used by service providers and enterprises around the world to unlock the full potential of advanced networks, accelerate new services, and deliver superior customer experiences. AXON Network’s platform is used by more than 30 leading global carriers to enhance the broadband experience and optimize the delivery of advanced services to more than 87 million broadband households and businesses.
