Bayobab and Africa50 has
signed a partnership to develop Project East2West, a terrestrial fibre optic
cable network connecting the eastern shores of Africa to those on the
continent’s west.
According to a statement issued on Tuesday, the partnership
will invest up to US$320 million connecting ten African countries over the
years 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Bayobab is wholly owned by MTN Group. This investment is
within MTN’s previously announced Ambition
2025 plans and will contribute to Bayobab reaching the Group’s
target of having 135 000km of proprietary fibre over the coming three
years.
“This partnership with Africa50 comes at an
opportune time, just as we rebrand MTN GlobalConnect to Bayobab to
position the business as an Africa-focused open-access digital infrastructure
platform,” said MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita.“The alliance is more than cables and
connections; it is about building bridges of connectivity that span
nations and bring people closer together.”
“For
landlocked African countries, Project East2West will improve latency by almost
two-thirds and increase capacity to support high-quality broadband access. In
this way, it will level the playing field and ensure that everyone has a fair
chance to succeed in the digital world,” he
added.
The partnership will offer substantial improvements in
data traffic for internet service providers, mobile network operators and hyper
scalers operating in these countries. It will also bridge the bottlenecks in
global internet traffic landing in and going out of Africa. It is expected to
cut latency by up to 65% on the east-to-west route.
Bayobab CEO Frédéric Schepens said: “Guided by the belief that everyone deserves the
benefits of a modern connected life, we see the provision of digital
infrastructure as critical in driving digital transformation, weaving African
countries together and connecting them to the rest of the world.”
He added: “Africa’s
connectivity relies on strategic and global partnerships coming together to
build the much-needed large-scale backbone infrastructure to meet the explosive
demand for digital services. We are looking forward to Project East2West
meeting the connectivity demands to power digital services, bridging the
digital divide across Africa, and paving the way for the sustainable digital
societies of tomorrow.”
As a co-developer, Africa50 is fostering the
harmonisation of regional data and security regulations, boosting consumption
of local content throughout the region, and promoting inter-regional exchanges
and regional economic development.
“Project East2West
is a remarkable and transformative project that will step-change Africa’s
internet capacity expansion drive by supporting the growth and development of
4G and 5G,” said Africa50 CEO Alain Ebobissé.
“This is an
important project that will have a significant impact on Africa’s quest to make
the internet accessible to most of its growing population. Partnering with a
large pan-African company like Bayobab and MTN is important to roll out such an
impactful cross-border project,” he added.
The development of Project East2West is expected to be
completed in 2025.
By: Nana Appiah Acquaye
