The project is designed to further a plan to make Congo a hub for information and communications technology in the region.
Léon Juste Ibombo (pictured), Congo’s Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and the Digital Economy, said: “We have come to launch the construction works of the fiber optic network between Congo and CAR, knowing that a large part of the border between the two countries is under water.”
Huawei and China Communications Services International started work on the project a few days ago in Brazzaville, the capital of Congo, which lies on the Congo River and has a direct river connection to Bangui, the capital of the CAR.
The companies are using a cable-laying barge to run the fibre along the Congo River and the connecting Ubangi River.
Ibombo said at the ceremony: “This barge contains the necessary equipment to be able to carry out the fibre optic interconnection work between our two states.”
According to the Ecofin news agency, Michel Ngakala, the project coordinator for the Central African Backbone, the work will consist of laying 285km of steel-reinforced fibre on the riverbed.
The interconnection of Congo to the CAR is part of phase two of the backbone project, which aims to interconnect the countries of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) with fibre.
Congo already has a link with Gabon, and a few months ago Cameroon was also connected.
The CAR-Congo works are likely to take seven months, said Ecofin.
Ibombo said at the inauguration that, with their own telecom infrastructure, African countries will no longer have to depend on foreign telecoms infrastructure.
