The network connects the republic to the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville) and Cameroon, with 11 points of presence in Bangui, the capital, and in strategic towns in the north-west of the country.
Faustin Archange Touadéra (pictured), president of the republic said: “The whole country needs to be connected. We are a continental country. It takes work, trenches to get here. Now that it’s done, we must optimize to reduce the handicap of isolation.”
François-Xavier Décopo, coordinator of this project, said: “The next step will be the marketing of this optical fiber to Central African populations. The government will make a public-private partnership with another managing operator to manage the infrastructure. It will sell the capacity to telephone operators such as Orange, Telecel and Socatel.”
The Central African Backbone (CAB) project aims to connect the countries of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), not just Cameroon and the Republic of Congo.
The project was financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the European Union to the tune of 22 billion CFA francs (€33 million). Another €18 million will be made available to connect the Central African Republic section to other parts of the backbone.
