AfDB: $61m loan towards West African fibre optics

1 October 2009

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved a loan of $61 million (£38.1 million) towards the Main One project, which aims to bring better broadband to West Africa.

Cote d'Ivoire, the Canary Islands, Morocco, Senegal, Nigeria and Ghana are some of the states which stand to benefit from the installation of the 7,000-kilometre submarine cable to be laid between the three cities of Lisbon, Accra and Lagos.

AfDB said this contribution was in line with both its private sector investment model and wider infrastructure priorities.

The project has a total cost of £240 million and should facilitate a 50 per cent drop in the cost of bandwidth in both Nigeria and Ghana.

In related news, Sudanese telecommunications expert Mohammed Ali Bouhelal told Dakar forum Perspectives for Fixed High Debit and Mobile in Africa that investment in fibre optics was "important".

He was quoted by the Senegalese Press Agency as saying: "Fibre is the future of the continent".

Category: ICT