N’Djamena wants a new route to the global internet. On Friday, 13 November, in Doha, on the sidelines of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference, Chad’s Minister of Telecommunications, Digital Economy and Digitalisation, Haliki Choua Mahamat, met Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani. Together they signed a letter of expression of interest addressed to the World Bank.
The two countries are asking the bank for financial and technical support to build a cross-border, open-access fibre optic link that would connect Nigeria’s national backbone to Chad’s national network. The project would build on two existing programmes, BRIDGE in Nigeria and CARDIP in Chad.
The stakes are high for a country with no coastline, whose connectivity depends on its neighbours’ cables. The corridor would give Chad a new route to international internet capacity through Nigerian territory. More routes also mean less risk of an outage when one link fails.
The two ministers expect the project to diversify connectivity routes, make networks safer and more resilient, and bring down the cost of high-speed internet. They also see it as a way to widen access to digital services, support economic activity and create new opportunities for businesses and residents.
The initiative reaches beyond the two countries. It is presented as a step toward digital integration between West and Central Africa. When work could begin is still an open question. So far, no cost, cable length, capacity or delivery schedule has been made public. The World Bank’s response will be the next decisive step