President of Burkina Faso Roch Marc Christian Kabore officially launched the first phase of the national fibre-optic backbone this week in Gaoua.
French engineering and consulting group Tactis will monitor the implementation of phase one of the project, with Singapore-based Huawei International PTE Limited constructing the network. Phase one of the national fibre-optic backbone network will cost XOF50 billion (USD89.8 million) with financing provided by the Bank of China (60%) and BNP-Paribas (40%). Phase one will deployed by Huawei during the course of 2018, while the second phase of the project will cover a further 8,000km across Burkina Faso.