Faustine Ndugulile (pictured), the country’s minister for communications and information technology, said the fibre network would be extended 72km from Mangaka to the town of Mtambaswala, from which it would extend south to the Unity Bridge across the Rovuma River to Mozambique.
“Transmission systems will be installed at Mtambaswala and Masasi stations to facilitate communication services in Mtambaswala and across Mozambique,” said Ndugulile.
Tanzania has already extended its backbone to other neighbouring countries, Burundi, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia, to further its aim to become a hub for ICT infrastructure and solutions in the region.
Construction of the Tanzania-Mozambique link started two weeks ago, according to local media reports. The work is costed at 2.4 billion Tanzanian shillings (US$1 million), including power and transmission equipment as well as the fibre. Dar es Salaam’s The Citizen newspaper reported that all the funds for construction of the project come from the Tanzania government.
A Dar es Salaam company, Raddy Fiber Solution, is building the network.
But it adds that, once the construction is completed and the infrastructure is in place, the government of Tanzania will enter a contract with its neighbour for the government of Mozambique to start paying for the service.
