Advancing a stalled fiber network toward operation

The situation

A Central African government and a development finance institution had financed a national fiber backbone as part of a regional connectivity program. Implementation delays, unmet legal and institutional conditions, and limited delivery capacity meant the program had to be refocused on a 620 kilometer priority link between the capital and an international cable landing point.

Our role

Our senior team supported project management and commercialization as the program was restructured around the priority link.

The work

We managed delivery progress and bottlenecks, kept construction and the conditions for commercial operation in the same frame, and supported engagement on the public and private arrangements needed to manage, maintain, and market bandwidth: the sequencing of civil works and commissioning, the legal basis for open access and wholesale services, operator selection, market demand and pricing, and the governance of the asset holding company.

What changed

The restructuring protected an achievable core program centered on the priority link, the operating partner, and the legal conditions for commercial use. Regulatory and technical assistance activities were completed, and the refocused infrastructure package moved through detailed design, contracting, and construction toward commercial operation.

Related service

This assignment sits within program design and implementation: program setup and implementation support where delivery has stalled and an asset has to be brought into use.