ATOS Senegal, subsidiary of French digital services which was inaugurated on June 23, 2016, in Dakar, was selected to manage Senegal’s optic fibre network. The firm beat the State IT Agency (ADIE) on this project. According to senepeople.com who reported the news, ATOS will replace Huawei in the installation of 3,000km of optic fiber which was to be done by the Chinese firm, as a result of agreement signed with ADIE on September 26, 2015.

The 3,000km of optic fiber will add to already operational 1,500km which was installed by ADIE. The national agency will take care of the mutualisation of telecommunication infrastructures in addition to the State’s information systems. “In a context where the new economy, and tomorrow’s economy, is the Economy of Knowledge which stands on the digital economy (network infrastructures and platforms) and the services economy (applications and use), Senegal just renounced to its digital sovereignty by sourcing its global security and national economy,” said Siré Sy, President of Africa WorldWide Group.

According to Siré Sy, the greatest concern about trusting the management of the national fiber optic network is that “ATOS’ CEO, Thierry Breton, ex-French Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry (2005-2007), also happens to be the Chairman of Orange which is the leading operator in Senegal”.