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BENIN-CAMEROON: New mobile telephone lines
Telephone communications in two West African countries are to be improved
this year, the World Bank institutions funding the respective projects have
reported. An enhanced nationwide digital cellular network is to be developed in
Cameroon, while a new digital network is to be established in Benin.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the French development
agency, Agence Française de Développement, are providing funding to the
sum of US $45 million for the Cameroonian network, which will complement
the country's existing 450,000 phone lines, the IFC said in a statement on
Wednesday. The Société Camerounaise de Mobiles, a Cameroonian cellular
company, will develop and operate it, the IFC said.
Benin, which has one of the world's lowest teledensity rates (inhabitants
per phone line), will develop a new mobile telephone network called Benin
Cell, with support to the tune of US $8.06 million from the Multilateral
Investment Guarantee Agency, MIGA said in a statement last week.
Benin Cell will also install an international gateway for remote areas and
international connectivity. Until last year, Benin had only 49,000 fixed
and mobile lines for a population of six million. There are currently
only 12,000 subscribers, mainly in the south - which includes the main
towns of Porto Novo (the capital) and Cotonou. The project aims to raise
this number to 20,000 this year and 100,000 in a decade, MIGA added.
More Information
This Item is Delivered to the English Service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs 2002
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