“As part of the World Bank funded WADI project, we have secured a funding for the second submarine cable and a transactional advice is currently been recruited to guide the entire process and we are hopeful that by 2025, The Gambia will have its own submarine cable,” he said while responding to questions from deputies.
“I wish to indicate The Gambia is part of the participating countries of the ECOWAS American Cabral Submarine Cable Initiative. And the Gambia serves as a Vice Chair to the ministerial committee and is hosting the meeting of the experts from the 18th to 20th of September 2023,” he disclosed.
He clarified that this investment for the second submarine cable cannot be allocated in their budget as a Ministry; “because we were given about D90 million for the entire ministry which hardly sustains our operations. Therefore, we need to go out and look for a vendor or a provider who is willing to give us the submarine cable on a BOT as it is the most efficient way to get a second submarine cable,” he explained.
He also disclosed that the WADI has given about US$50 million to the Ministry of Digital Economy for the next five years. “So we consulted WADI if they could fund the project. So, because of the size of the funding, we partner with Guinea Conakry to make it cheaper. So now the submarine cable will be coming from Cape Verde to The Gambia directly.”
The minister added his minister is working on a third submarine cable which will help lower the cost of internet in the country.
“We have the ACE as we speak and that’s where we are getting our capacity and we also have a backup which is the satellite internet we are working on. As we speak, we are anticipating by the end of September of this year, Starling will have the full licensing to operate in The Gambia. This means we cannot just rely on the ACE to complement the internet access; rather through satellite and every Gambian or non-Gambian can buy the satellite without having to dig any cable.”
