AFDB invests US$66m in West African fibre optic cable
The African Development Bank (AFDB) board has approved an investment of US$66 million for the development of the Main One submarine fibre optic cable project along the West African coast.
The bank previously invested in the East African “EaSSy” submarine cable and the two satellites Rascom and New Dawn, demonstrating its support for ICT in Africa.
The project totaling US$240 million will involve the laying of 7,000 kilometres of submarine fibre optic cable between Seixal (a suburb of Lisbon) in Portugal, Accra in Ghana, and Lagos in Nigeria. The system will be based on a trunk-and-branch topology and include branching units to the Canary Islands, Morocco, Senegal, and Côte d'Ivoire. The 1.92 Tbps of available bandwidth will be leased wholesale to telecom operators and internet service providers on an open access basis, thereby encouraging competitive pricing and a large customer base.
