Huawei of China has been contracted to deploy 3,000km of fibre-optic cabling in Senegal, under phase three of the country’s ‘largement Senegal’ (Senegal-wide) project. In an interview with the newspaper Le Soleil, Sheikh Bakhoum, General Director of the State Agency for IT (ADIE), announced the initiative which he says will augment the 1,500km of fibre already in place. The cost of the project is USD85 million and is one of seven major joint projects identified by China and the government of Senegal.
Sheikh Bakhoum pointed out that ADIE first identified fibre as a key area for investment back in 2000, since when it has embarked on two distinct phases of rollout. In the first, it constructed a 500km network in Dakar to connect state administration facilities and then other public institutions, including hospitals, regional and local authorities. In 2012 phase two commenced with a view to deploying some 1,000km of optical fibre spanning ‘Mbour, Kaolack, Fatick, bypassing the Gambia [and going] back down to Tamba in Kolda, Ziguinchor Velingara, St Louis, Louga and Diourbel’. There is also fibre infrastructure deployed along the country’s cosatal region. ‘Today, 700 administrative buildings are connected by the ADIE network,’ Sheikh Bakhoum said. The third phase will also include the building of the country’s second data centre to increase storage capacity.