SIERRA LEONE- GUINEA FIBER-OPTIC CABLE INTERCONNECTED AT GBALAMUYA, KAMBIA DISTRICT
The Intra African Fiber connectivity initiative under the auspices of SMART AFRICA
& SMART CITIES have successfully connected the two fiber-optic cables
between Sierra Leone and Guinea at Gbalamuya, Kambia District on 28th
February, 2020.
This task was done in collaboration with major stakeholders, including the Ministry
of Information and Communications (MIC), the National Telecommunications
Commission (NATCOM), the Sierra Leone Cable Ltd (SALCAB), Post,
Telecommunications & Radio Authority (ARPT Guinea), the National Backbone
management and Operating Company (SOGEB Guinea), and Afritek Guinea
This interconnection aimed at transforming Africa into a single digital market. Two
of the principles of this initiative are to:
- put ICT at the center of national socio-economic development agenda, and
- improve access to ICT especially broadband
As a follow up to this initiative, this interconnectivity between Sierra Leone and
Guinea will provide fiber internet redundancy for both countries. This means
that, should Sierra Leone submarine ACE cable go down, Guinea will provide
automatic internet access to Sierra Leone through the interconnected fiber link
at Gbalamuya and likewise Sierra Leone will provide similar internet access to
Guinea, should their submarine cable go down.
In the last ECOWAS ICT expert meeting held on 4th October, 2019 in
Burkina Faso Internet redundancy among African countries was one of the main
resolutions discussed. Meanwhile, technical modalities are underway to activate
the new link and feed it with live voice and data traffic.
The next phase of the interconnectivity is to link Sierra Leone to The Republic of
Liberia after which Sierra Leone will have two redundant paths.
