Bayobab and Africa50 sign partnership to build fibre network across Africa

The partnership will connect ten African countries by 2025, and involves an investment of up to US$320 m. The network aims to bring significant data traffic improvements for ISPs, mobile network operators and hyperscalers operating in countries covered and reduce east-to-west latency by as much as 65%. Furthermore, it should help avoid bottlenecks in global internet traffic to and from Africa.

As part of the 2012 Declaration on the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), African heads of states called for innovative solutions to accelerate the delivery of infrastructure on the African continent as part of the African Union's Agenda 2063. Africa50 was established to help bridge Africa’s infrastructure funding gap by facilitating project development, mobilizing public and private sector finance, and investing in infrastructure on the continent. Africa50 focuses on medium- to large-scale projects that have development impact and offer an appropriate risk-adjusted return to investors. Bringing project development and financing together in one platform, Africa50 seeks to provide support at every stage of the project cycle.

Figures from Statista show that Africa had some 570 m internet users in 2022, more than twice the number in 2015. Despite the increase in the number of users, internet penetration was around 43% in 2021, less than the 66% global average. A recent report from Omdia titled Africa Broadband Outlook 2022 shows that fixed broadband subscriptions across Africa increased by 14.6% in 2021. This is higher that the year’s 8.2% global average. Africa is projected to record the highest fixed broadband subscriptions growth rate between 2024 and 2027. However, Africa continues to lag the rest of the world with an average fixed broadband household penetration rate of 11.5% at the end of 2021, below the 59% global average.

“Project East2West is a remarkable and transformative project that will revolutionize Africa’s internet capacity expansion by fast tracking the growth and development of 4G and 5G”, said Alain Ebobissé, CEO, Africa50. “It will have a significant impact on Africa’s quest to make the internet accessible to its growing population.”

“Africa’s connectivity relies on strategic and global partnerships coming together to build the much-needed large-scale backbone infrastructure to meet the explosive demand for digital services.” says Bayobab CEO Frédéric Schepens. “We are looking forward to Project East2West meeting the connectivity demands to power digital services, bridging the digital divide across Africa, and paving the way for the sustainable digital societies of tomorrow”.

Bayobab is wholly owned by MTN Group, who previously announced a target of having 135000km of proprietary fibre over the coming three years. “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,” said MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita.

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Bayobab and Africa50 sign partnership to build fibre network across Africa

Number of internet users in selected countries in Africa as of January 2022, by country (in millions)