Out-Law News 1 min. read
16 Dec 2016, 12:03 pm
The AfDB said on 13 December it had given the green light to issue a loan of €31.4 million and a grant of €12.5m to finance Niger’s component of the overall 1,510-kilometre trans-Saharan dorsal (SDR) fibre optic broadband project.
According to the bank, the SDR will expand internet connectivity in the Western African region by creating links between Niger, Chad, Algeria and Nigeria “and strengthening their interconnections with neighbouring countries” such as Benin and Burkina Faso.
The project will also “ensure quality telecommunications services at affordable prices for both people and companies”, the AfDB said. In addition, the project “includes the deployment of pilot data centres and the installation of e-government platforms... to strengthen the efficiency of public services and their accessibility in the regions”.
"Niger and Chad are landlocked countries,” said Samatar Omar Elmi, the information and communications technology (ICT) engineer in charge of the project for the AfDB. “The interconnection of communication networks with neighbouring countries is crucial for the growth of the ICT sector and for the diversification of their economies.”
The AfDB said to “accelerate the adoption of ICT” in the region, nearly 800 Nigerian students will receive training in fibre optic technology by 2020 and 20,000 women will receive training in ICT and entrepreneurship under a “women’s empowerment component” of the SDR project.
According to the World Bank’s 'private participation in infrastructure database', the telecoms sector in sub-Saharan Africa was the sector with the largest investment share (68%) between 1990 and 2015. Total telecoms investment in the region over the period amounted to more than $114 billion, with 208 telecoms projects reaching financial close, the database showed.
Earlier this year, ministers from Algeria, Mali, Niger and Chad met to discuss progress on a separate project to construct a trans-Saharan fibre optic cable to boost broadband connections between the North, West and Central African regions of the continent. The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) said the construction of the 4,500-kilometre terrestrial fibre optic cable will follow the route of the Nigeria-Algeria trans-Sahara gas pipeline.
NEPAD said the Algeria section of the fibre optic cable had been completed and was “fully operational”, while an AfDB-funded $340,000 feasibility study had been completed for the onward connection to Chad.
Analysis published last month by market analysts Ovum forecast that the total number of mobile subscriptions in Africa will rise to 1.33bn at the end of 2021. However, Ovum said data connections as well as data and digital service revenue, “will drive the next phase of growth in Africa’s telecoms market”.
