China Eximbank provides $70 million loan for Phase I of Tanzania National Fiber Optic Backbone Project (Linked to Record ID#23150, #30603)

Project narrative

On September 30, 2008, China Eximbank and the Government of Tanzania signed a $70 million government concessional loan (GCL) agreement for Phase I of the National Fiber Optic Backbone Project. The loan, which is captured via Record ID#23142, carried the following estimated borrowing terms: a 1% interest rate, a 8.0833-year grace period, and a 25.5833-year maturity. Then, in 2010, China Eximbank and the Government of Tanzania signed an RMB 700 million government concessional loan (GCL) agreement for Phase II of the National Fiber Optic Backbone Project. The loan, which is captured via Record ID#23150, carried the following estimated borrowing terms: a 1% interest rate, a 7.3796-year grace period, and a 24.8796-year maturity. Then, on March 25, 2013, China Eximbank and Bank of Tanzania signed a loan agreement worth $93.77 million for Phase III (Sub-Phase I) of the National Fiber Optic Backbone Project. The loan, which is captured via Record ID#30603, carried the following estimated borrowing terms: a 1% interest rate, a 7.6666-year grace period, and a 26.166-year maturity. Huawei Technologies and China International Telecommunication Construction Corporation (CITCC) (a subsidiary of China Telecom) were the implementing contractors for the project's three phases. The entire backbone project was intended to cover 10,674 km. Tanzania Telecommunications Co Ltd (TTCL) was mandated to manage the National Fiber Optic Backbone. It was also designed to connect to the international submarine cables of EASSY & SEACOM through cross-border connectivity -- namely Kenya (at two points of Sirari na Namanga), Uganda (at Mutukula), Rwanda (at Rusumo), Malawi (at Kasumulo), Burundi (at Kabanga) and Zambia (at Tunduma). The first phase covered 7,000 kilometers over northern and eastern Tanzania in cities like Dar es Salaam to Tanga, Moshi, Arusha, Singida, Dodoma, Iringa, and Morogoro and provide connections to Rwanda, Burundi (Manyovu), Uganda, and Kenya (Horohoro). Phase 1 ultimately laid 4,330 km of cable; 2,280 km of which was part of a newly built Optic Fibre Cable (OFC) network and 2,050 km of which was part of an existing OFC network from TANESCO. It started on July 24, 2009 and completed May 29, 2010. The second phase was designed to be 3,674 kilometers and link Dar es Salaam to Kigoma, Taborak, Sumbawanga, Mbeya, Songea, Mtwara, and Lindi in Tanzania as well as Zambia and Malawi. Phase II of the project ultimately laid 3,230 km of cable; 3,168 km of which was part of a newly built OFC network and 62 km of which was part of the existing OFC network from TANESCO. The second phase was supposed to increase connectivity to rural villages and reduce costs by approximately 80%. The second phase officially began on August 1, 2010 and completed on October 21, 2015. Phase III involved the expansion of the existing NICTBB network by connecting Zanzibar and Pemba to the NICTBB, establishing a full-mesh Internet Protocol layer Multiprotocol Label Switching (IP-MPLS) to the existing Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) layers, as well as building a data center in Dar es Salaam. Works officially began on June 27, 2015, ended in June 2016, and the NICTBB was made operational in September 2016.