Burundi Backbone Systems

May 28, 2013

28 May 2013 Burundi Burundi Backbone Systems (BBS) has secured a USD11.5 million loan from PTA Bank to build a national fibre-optic network in Burundi. Ventures Africa reports that the new network will connect all 17 administrative provinces across the country and will also provide connectivity to international submarine cables landing at Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and Mombasa (Kenya) through border point connections with neighbouring countries. The project is to be implemented in three phases, the journal says. Commenting on the development, BBS chief executive David Easum said that the loan would revolutionise Burundi’s telecommunications sector by bringing the benefits of high speed, high bandwidth connectivity at a more affordable cost. ‘An immediate impact of the project will be to increase the internet and mobile penetration in Burundi making communication services available to a larger part of the population,’ he said. BBS is a joint venture of four telecoms groups including state owned Onatel, mobile operators U-Com Burundi (leo) and Africa Cellulaire (TEMPO), and internet service provider (ISP) Centre Burundais De L’Internet (CBinet). According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, in September 2011 ZTE Corporation of China originally signed an IT infrastructure agreement with BBS to roll out a national backbone network – a first for Burundi. The deployment was said to be in response to growing demand for mobile and data-based services and is expected to reduce significantly the current costs for broadband access there and pave the way for future developments in ICT in the African nation. The Chinese equipment manufacturer is understood to have agreed to supply its ZXR10 M6000 high-performance multi-service routers and multi-service access products to BBS. ZTE says the ZXR10 M6000 slot supports 40G switching capability and provides upgrade capability to 100G. Burundi, Burundi Backbone Systems (BBS), Broadband