On November 10, Orange unveiled the deployment of the first high-speed fiber optic network in eight West African countries (1), bringing together 330 million inhabitants. The Djoliba project, which means “Niger river” in Mandinka, wants to avoid a gap between continents at two speeds, thanks to a secure network. “Until then, each country had its own networks managed by different operators, explains Pierre Jacob, director of Orange in the Great West. The “seamless” network being implemented today will link these countries together and connect them to other continents. “
20,000 km of cables
For this, 10,000 km of land cables and as many submarine cables have been deployed. Impressive figures, up to the needs on the continent. “In Africa, we observe each year nearly 50% increase in traffic on Internet networks. “
Ghislain Guillochon, project leader in the Oïnis entity (subsidiary of Orange) at Lannion (Côtes-d’Armor), has rarely experienced a project like this. “It’s a real human adventure. We created links with local project managers who will keep control of the operation. “ For greater responsiveness, the network is managed from Dakar and 155 sites accommodate equipment. “Djoliba is the result of teamwork of which we are proud”, concludes the Lannionnais engineer.
(1) Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
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