This is its first access to an international fiber optic submarine cable. The country is thus laying “the foundations for the largest national telecommunications infrastructure project” in its history, according to Deputy Prime Minister Mr Soares Sambu.

The connection system links the town of Suru, in northeastern Guinea-Bissau, to the Antula power plant on the outskirts of Bissau, a distance of 30 km. An internal distribution network will be built to carry the data to other parts of the country.

The project to connect Guinea-Bissau to the international ACE submarine cable began in 2017. It is the result of an agreement signed between the government and mobile operators Orange and MTN. Guinea-Bissau was to invest $31.5 million obtained from The World Bank while each of the 2 operators was to contribute about $8 million over 5 years.