French telecoms giant, Orange, announced it has launched a high-speed fiber-optics network across West Africa. The network named Dioloba will pass through Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Liberia, and Mali, with the aim of delivering high-speed internet broadband in the region.
This was disclosed in a report by Reuters on Wednesday evening.
Orange said the network is part of a 10,000 km cross-border terrestrial fibre optic network with 10,000 km of undersea cables, which would be used to transmit high-speed internet services to West Africa.
“Orange is actively contributing to the development of undersea and terrestrial infrastructure, which enables the African continent’s digital transformation, by investing 1 billion euros ($1.18 billion) each year,”Alioune Ndiaye, Orange CEO for the Middle East and Africa said on Wednesday.
Sources reported in 2019 that Nigeria ranks 7th in terms of countries with the highest number of internet users in the world. As at the end of August 2020 and according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), subscriptions to broadband or high-speed internet services in Nigeria increased significantly to a peak of 82.7 million.
It was also reported in June that Orange may enter the Nigerian telecoms space soon. “It could make sense to be in economies such as Nigeria and South Africa. If one considers there are things to do, the time frame I am considering is rather a few months than a few years,” said CEO Stephane Richard.
