China Eximbank provides RMB 496 million government concessional loan for Phase 1 of National Broadband Network Project (Linked to Record ID#91638)

Project narrative

On April 7, 2015, China Eximbank and the Government of Benin signed an RMB 496 million government concessional loan (GCL) agreement [CHINA EXIMBANK GCL NO.35 (2014) TOTAL NO.(538) No. 1420103052015110579] for Phase 1 of National Broadband Network Project. This loan, which is captured via Record ID#58955, carried the following terms: a 20-year maturity, a 7-year grace period, a 2% interest rate, a 0% default (penalty) interest rate, a 0.25% management fee, and a 0.25% commitment fee. The borrower agreed to deposit project-related revenues in a special account to facilitate repayment. The borrower was expected to use the proceeds of the loan to finance a commercial contract between Benin Telecom S.A. and Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., which was signed on August 5, 2014. The purpose of the project was to expand access to high-speed internet, a fiber optic cable, and 4G technology by rehabilitating a 1060 km fiber optic backbone network that runs from Cotonou to Malanville, constructing a 222 km metropolitan fiber optic loop in Cotonou and surrounding areas, and deploying a 974 km high speed fiber optic broadband network with IMS/MPLS core. The project had six components: 1. Reinforcement of 2000 km of fiber optic cable called the ‘National Backbone’. 2. Building a metro network in Cotonou, comprised of almost 24 km of fiber optic cable. 3. Building a FTTx access network by modernizing sub-distributors of 125 Multi-Service Access Nodes (MSAN). 4. Modernizing a 230 km fiber optic cable line. 5. Creating 30 new 4G base stations. 6. Creating another IP Multimedia Subsystem core network. This project also involved the installation of 48 IP/MPLS routers to extend the IP BTS network. Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. was the contractor responsible for implementation. A formal groundbreaking ceremony for the project’s first phase was held on November 26, 2015. However, Phase 1 implementation did not commence until December 2016. By March 31, 2018, the project’s first phase had achieved an 83% completion rate, with 67 of Benin’s 77 communes (municipalities) currently connected to the fiber-optic backbone. The project’s first phase was originally scheduled for completion in June 2018 but it ultimately reached completion in June 2018. Then, on September 14, 2021, the Government of Benin and China Eximbank signed an RMB 265 million government concessional loan agreement for Phase 2 of the National Broadband Network Project. This loan is captured via Record ID#91638. The purpose of the project’s second phase is to build a 484.1 km fiber optic backbone network in the localities of Mono, Zou, Collines and a 204.8 km metropolitan fiber network to serve more than ten cities as well as the ‘Route des Pêches’ (Fishing Road).