Bayobab was recently honoured with the Best Infrastructure Deal award at the 2024 Global Connectivity Awards (GCA) for the East2West Connectivity Project. The East2West Connectivity project is a transformative initiative founded on the idea of a truly connected Africa. East2West stands out for its unique approach to filling a critical gap through innovative execution, collaborative partnerships, and a focus on sustainable, long-term impact. At Bayobab, we believe that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life and East2West is the realisation of our vision of a brighter connected Africa.
A Continent Divided No More
Unlike traditional subsea cable projects, East2West focuses on landlocked African nations. This project bridges the digital divide head-on, delivering high-capacity connectivity to underserved regions and empowering millions. A total of 12 African countries will be connected across East and West Africa through 16,500km of terrestrial fibre cable. This means that around 390 million people across Kenya, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Congo, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, and Angola will gain access to improved connectivity. Internet penetration in Sub-Saharan Africa was 25% as of 2022, and below 15% in Benin, Chad, CAR, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which are key countries along the planned East2West routes. Not only will East2West address challenges around internet penetration, but it will also drive an increase in mobile data usage given that smartphone mobile traffic is expected to quadruple between 2022 and 2030 in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to GSMA Intelligence’s The Mobile Economy Sub-Saharan Africa 2023 report.
Innovation and Diversity
East2West project offers three unique, strategically placed terrestrial paths. This innovative approach fosters redundancy, resilience, and optimal performance, ensuring Africa's digital highways are never truly blocked. These alternative routes across Africa create diversity and ease the reliance on subsea cables around southern Africa, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity during unforeseen subsea cables cuts along either the east or west African coastlines.
United We Build, Stronger We Stand
Collaboration is the cornerstone of East2West and the partnership with Africa50 and the Smart Africa Alliance, which has brought this visionary project to bear, showcases a replicable strategy for future infrastructure development across the continent. With Bayobab’s expertise, Smart Africa Alliance’s guidance and Africa50’s investment, E2W is a testament to the power of partnerships and what can be achieved when various stakeholders work together for a common vision.
Building For Tomorrow
East2West paves the way for increased employment, economic growth, fosters data security through regional harmonisation, and future-proofs the network for next-generation technologies. East2West will drive direct employment through locally established companies, as well as indirect employment through local technical contracts for laying of the network and operations and maintenance contracts for continuous network support.
East2West Connectivity project is 2024’s Best Infrastructure Deal as it mobilises three players – Bayobab, Africa50, and Smart Africa Alliance – to collectively commit expertise, investment, and guidance to reach an underserved population of millions of people and usher in Africa’s digital future. Bayobab’s East2West connectivity project is transformative, leaving a legacy of a connected thriving Africa.
