French firm Global Technologies has been tasked with reviving the Central African Republic’s defunct fixed-line provider SOCATEL (Societe Africaine de Telecommunications) by the country’s Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPT).
As reported by Agence Ecofin, SOCATEL was the fixed-line monopoly holder in the chronically underdeveloped market, operating a microwave network that was over 40 years old. The obsolete network finally ceased functioning in May 2019 and SOCATEL has offered no services since.
The CAR’s government is now looking to raise funds of EUR20 million (US$23.7 million) to restore this network, tapping Global Technologies to build out further infrastructure in a bid to strengthen the loop as a back-up for the fibre-optic network.
CommsUpdate reports that SOCATEL CEO Saturnin Cyrique Sem believes that the investment will allow the operator to extend services to as much as 40% of the population. He noted that with the company having been in the doldrums, the only was is up, saying: “With the help of Global Technologies we believe the resources will be available to us and that SOCATEL can only recover.”
