The government of Burkina Faso has announced plans to roll out 800 telecom towers in 2025 to facilitate network coverage in ‘white zones’ – areas with no network coverage.
According to details provided by the country’s Ministry of Digital Transition and reported by the Ecofin news agency, this follows a meeting with telecom regulator representatives and operators that resulted in a decision that 250 sites are to be launched under the Digital Transformation Acceleration Project (PACT DIGITAL), while the remaining 550 will be financed by the Universal Access and Service Fund (FASU).
This investment plan, unveiled last week, is expected to improve telecom coverage in the country and advance the goal of widespread connectivity by 2027.
It also aligns with the country’s objective, reported here in September last year, to provide coverage to 1,000 white zones within three years, out of a total of 1,700 that have been identified nationally.
But there’s a notable lack of detail about progress so far. As Ecofin points out, it remains uncertain whether the project is under way and, if so, what stage it has reached.
Nor does the recent announcement seem to address how the tower-building plan will manage ongoing security challenges such as vandalism or destruction of towers by terrorist groups as well as rising numbers of out-of-service or inaccessible sites.
These have reached 681 in August 2023 from 632 in 2022, according to figures from regulator ARCEP, though more recent figures don’t seem to be available. This has undoubtedly impacted coverage.
