West Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Program

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The development objective of the West Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Program Project for Africa is to increase the geographical reach of broadband networks and reducing the costs of communications services in West Africa. There are three components to the project. The first component of the project is supporting connectivity: (a) international connectivity, and (b) regional/national connectivity which leverages alternative infrastructure. This component will improve connectivity in the region by addressing the missing infrastructure links, providing competitive access to submarine cables where opportunity exists, and commercializing excess fiber capacity where electricity transmission lines and other alternative networks are the appropriate platform. The second component of the project is creating an enabling environment for connectivity. This component will create an enabling environment for connectivity and applications and institutional strengthening to remove existing bottlenecks for private sector participation, and improving viability of incumbent operators where necessary to be competitive. The third component of the project is project implementation. This component will give support to countries to implement the program through the setting up of project implementation units, communications, and resettlement costs where relevant, and monitoring and evaluation.