08 November 2019

Sierra Leone has secured a US$30m loan agreement to fund its contract with Huawei for the second phase of its National Fibre Optic Backbone Project.

Fibre cables will be installed in unconnected regions and enable MNOs and ISPs to expand their capacity and offer 3G and 4G services.

The regions include 19 cities -15 of which will get new backbone stations while a new metropolitan area network will be constructed in the remaining four, to serve around 2.6 million people.

The loan to finance the project was secured with the Exim Bank of China as a result of an agreement between the finance ministry and the bank’s representative, the political counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Sierra Leone, Wang Xinmin.

The ministry also signed an on-lending agreement of the same amount with the Sierra Leone Cable Network (SALCAB) which manages the project.

Under the terms, SALCAB must repay the loan within 15 years after a grace period of five years, without the recourse of applying to the national budget for support.