Historic West Africa undersea network launched
from MACOUMBA BEYE in Dakar, Senegal
DAKAR – THE first pan-West African network will support the digital ecosystem and meets the growing needs for connectivity in the region.
Djoliba, which consists of infrastructure based on a terrestrial fibre optic network, coupled with undersea cables, is hailed as the first unified superfast broadband network, providing seamless connectivity, better availability and security and excellent quality of service.
Launched on Tuesday at the AfricaTech Festival international trade fair, it will be operated and maintained from Dakar, the Senegalese capital city.
Orange and its subsidiaries announced the commissioning and commercial launch of Djoliba.
The new backbone covers eight countries, namely Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal.
Natively interconnected with the domestic networks within the countries, this broad coverage will generalize access to connectivity for operators and companies.
Djoliba consists of more than 10 000 km of terrestrial fibre optic network, coupled with 10 000 km of undersea cables, superfast broadband provision (up to 100 Gbit/s) and a 99,99% availability rate.
This network covers 16 points of presence with a grid of nearly 155 technical sites, and connects 300 points of presence in Europe, America and Asia.
Alioune Ndiaye, Chief Executive Officer: Orange Middle East and Africa, said local populations would be able to access healthcare or educational services more easily, as well as the applications offered by cloud computing.
“Development of access to digital technology is a key challenge for Africa. I would like to congratulate our teams in all the countries for their remarkable work that has enabled the Djoliba project to come to fruition,” Ndiaye said.
Orange is actively contributing to the development of undersea and terrestrial infrastructure by investing 1 billion euros annually.
It is currently present in 18 African countries, and has more than 120 million customers.
– CAJ News
