Nov 23 2006
Siemens Networks is providing Sonitel, the principal telecoms operator in Niger, with a high-speed fiber optics network. A section of it was inaugurated in the capital Niamey. The fiber-optic backbone links Niger to the SAT3 undersea cable off the coasts of West Africa connecting Spain to South Africa. This will put the country among the major telecommunications players in the region.
The entire project in Niamey comprises firstly a fiber-optic loop in the Niamey area with links to Burkina Faso and Benin and further to the SAT3 undersea cable, and secondly a fiber-optic high-capacity access loop, also in Niamey. In the first phase of the project, Siemens installed a fiber-optic backbone as part of an international link between Benin, Niger and Burkina Faso and to connect further regions to the national network. In the second phase a high-capacity access backbone will be installed, consisting of a central fiber-optic loop and various client loops for more than 100 major Sonitel customers. They will use the network for voice as well as data transfer from their branch offices. Siemens supplies and installs the entire infrastructure here, including the passive elements such as the optical cables, the active elements such as communication systems for enterprises and a TNMS-M network management system.
Siemens has recently been responsible for several substantial advances in Niger. This vast landlocked country in West Africa is in need of operational communications infrastructures, as a spur to its social and economic development. The historic fixed telephony operator Sonitel is currently updating its telephony network to improve substantially the quality of its offer. With Siemens it has found a reliable partner to help it bring its projects to fruition.
Already last year, Siemens digitized the DOMSAT (Domestic Satellite) satellite backbone operated by Sonitel. DOMSAT connects Sonitel’s fixed telephony network and the SahelCom mobile network wit the capital Niamey, thereby also linking people in areas as far away as Diffa, Agadez and Bilma. This turnkey project was a real technical and logistical tour de force that definitely put Siemens in the running for other projects.
The project is part of a wider international effort aimed at linking Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger to the SAT3/WASC undersea cable (Southern Africa – Western Africa Submarine Cable) off the coasts of West Africa connecting Spain to South Africa, where it links up with the SAFE (South Africa – Far East) cable to Asia; SAT3/WASC/SAFE will provide an underwater global information highway of round about 30.000 kilometers for the southern hemisphere.
The currently signed project between Siemens Networks and Sonitel is vital for Niger, as it puts the country among the major telecommunications players in the region of West Africa. It will link Niger to the world for social, economic and cultural purposes and will facilitate internal and international communications for the local business community.