(Special for CAFS) Togo considers new license tenders for Internet services providers

The Council of Ministers on Wednesday instructed the Minister of Posts and Digital Economy to consider the attribution, by call for tenders, of three new licenses to Internet services providers for the West African country.

"The coming of new operators will help develop competition, enhance the quality of Internet services and reduce costs significantly", the council said in a report issued late on Wednesday.

"The decision is to support major projects currently executed so as to enhance the access and the quality of Internet connection in our country", the council explained.

It is also to foster the construction of a data center, the setting up of Internet exchange point, the construction of 140 kilometers of optic fiber network.

In addition, the release said, this will help pool the efforts of the national operators Togo Telecom and Togo Cellulaire.

Further, in a communication to the council of ministers, the minister of Posts and digital economy exposed the attribution of the 4G license to the current mobile phone operators Togo Cellulaire and Moov.

The minister was instructed, the release said, to engage discussions with the operators so as to achieve that goal.

According to the government, this was in line with the objective to make Togo the digital hub in the sub-region and to ensure broadband availability to be a highly accessible services nationwide. Endit