The government of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Egypt’s Benya, a telecommunications company has entered into a strategic partnership, media reports said. The partnership aims to develop DRC’s communications infrastructure.
The partnership was signed between Benya and DRC’s government this week. Benya will set up an end-to-end National Fibre Optics Network (NFON) to spur development of the DRC’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure.
The DRC ministry, told the media, “The two parties will enter into a working session to analyse the financial, legal and technical parameters to prepare the signing of the contract, which will take place as soon as the two parties have set the terms of the partnership which will now govern them.”
It is reported that the project will boost digitalisation across DRC and pave the way for its citizens to access high speed internet services and mobile networks across the African subcontinent at cheaper price.
The two sides will Corbulid build infrastructure according to international industry standards. The project will be carried out across two phases. The network implementation work will be done in the first phase, while the provision of seamless digital services will be completed in the second phase.
Benya will provide the optic cables for the project cables through its factory which was established in partnership with the Arab Organisation for Industrialization (AOI) and Corning international, a fibber optics provider.
The new development is a big boost for DRC amid the outbreak of Covid-19 as many African countries are struggling to get back on track.