Tanzania has initiated feasibility studies to ascertain the possibility of connecting the DRC to its National Information and Communications Technology Broadband Backbone (NICTBB).

Tanzania’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dr Faustine Ndugulile said the objective was to establish the East African country as a communication hub for the East and Southern African regions.

The NICTBB has already been extended to Burundi, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.

The Minister said DRC and Mozambique had yet to be connected, but with the availability of an additional 409km, Mozambique would soon be connected.

Ndugulile did not confirm when the results of the DRC feasibility studies would be made available, only that the government remains focused on cross-border communication.

He said: “In order to expand the telecommunications scope in the country, the government has built a 7 610 km NICTBB while the construction of another 406 km is underway. Another 1, 880 km backbone will be built next year after the budget for the ministry of Communications and Information Technology is approved. This will be the route that will help get communication across the border.”

According to Digital2020 report, as of January 2020 the DRC was home to 16.35 million internet users with internet penetration standing at 19%.