• Gambia’s Gamtel signs $50 million PPP to modernise internet backbone

• Project boosts core network capacity from 50 Gbps to 800 Gbps

• Upgrade aims to ease bottlenecks and strengthen national digital infrastructure

Gambian state-owned telecom operator Gamtel said on Wednesday it had signed a $50 million public-private partnership agreement with Senegalese systems integrator SYSROAD SA Holding to modernise the country’s national internet backbone.

The project will upgrade the core network’s capacity from 50 gigabits per second to 800 Gbps, more than 15 times current levels, easing existing connectivity bottlenecks and supporting the development of a more resilient digital infrastructure, Gamtel said.

The upgrade is intended to strengthen the backbone needed for a competitive digital economy and improve network reliability nationwide.

“Today, we are not just upgrading capacity; we are investing in sovereignty, resilience, and the economic future of generations yet to come,” Gamtel Managing Director Lamin A. Tunkara said in a statement. “Connectivity is the new infrastructure of development, and this partnership ensures The Gambia is an active participant in the global digital economy.”

A World Bank diagnostic study on The Gambia’s digital economy, published in May 2021, found that the country’s fibre-optic backbone was relatively well developed but underused.

The network was 1,367 kilometres long in 2021, with more than 90% of the population living within 10 km of a fibre node. It is managed exclusively by the state-owned operator.

However, only 27% of radio access network sites, mainly in urban areas, and about 5% of the population were connected to the backbone, according to the telecoms regulator cited by the World Bank.

Rural sections were found to be unreliable due to frequent fibre cuts, maintenance disruptions and high tariffs. The World Bank linked these problems to weak management, limited service commercialisation and quality shortcomings.

The Bank recommended greater private sector participation in both the wholesale network and public operators Gamtel and Gamcel to improve utilisation of the national backbone and reduce pressure on public finances.

Isaac K. Kassouwi