By : Amen Kadry
MTN subsidiary Bayobab has secured a contract to manage, operate and maintain national fibre infrastructure in the Central African Republic.
The deal was signed on 12th July by the Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Justin Gourna Zacko, and the Chairman and CEO of Bayobab Frederic Schepens. The public-private partnership is initially set to last for 15 months.
TeleGeography reports that the deal will see Bayobab selling wholesale internet services to several operators in the market, among them Moov Africa Centrafrique, Orange Centrafrique, Socatel and Telecel-RCA. The move is aimed at bringing down consumer tariffs for higher quality broadband.
The deal is enabled by the Central African Backbone project (CAB-RCA), a 935km fibre network covering two key routes in the country, which came into operation in February 2023 after construction commenced in September 2019.