Africa50 And Bayobab In Partnership To Develop Pan-african Terrestrial Fibre

Africa50 And Bayobab In Partnership To Develop Pan-african Terrestrial Fibre. Bayobab and Africa50 on Monday 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.

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.

By Thomas Chiothamisi

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