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Case study: National ICT Broadband Backbone network. NICTBB’s network connects major
(NICTBB), Tanzania towns and cities across Tanzania, extending to the Chapter 1
borders of all neighbouring countries. The NICTBB
This case study will be of interest to regulators has also been connected to the two East Coast
and governments that currently are constructing submarine cables (EASSY and SEACOM) landing
national fibre backbone networks to facilitate at Dar es Salaam. Most of the NICTBB equipment
the roll-out of broadband connectivity and wider has been accommodated in TTCL buildings so that
e-Enabling initiatives. operators can access carrier-class hosting and
bandwidth services.
The Government of Tanzania is building a fibre
network under the NICTBB project in order The NICTBB has been implemented in phases, with
to enhance the usage of ICT applications and 31 PoPs currently operational. By the end of 2014,
promote the development of e-government, NICTBB spanned 7 560 km across 24 regions. It
e-learning, e-health and e-commerce. The NICTBB has reached all border points and even garnered
is broadly intended to: a USD 6.7 million contract to provide bandwidth
to Rwanda over the next 10 years. Third-party
• provide international connectivity to all research has found improvements in provision
landlocked neighbouring countries; of e-commerce, m-commerce, e-banking,
e-education and e-government since the NICTCBB
• establish points of presence (PoPs) across all of commenced operations . These improvements
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Tanzania’s administrative districts; have enabled digitally excluded Tanzanians to
become proficient in using e-services, accelerating
• provide all licensed operators equal access to Tanzania’s economic development.
the fibre network to stimulate competition;
Even so, fixed broadband penetration remains very
• enable the provision of affordable Internet to low in Tanzania, standing at only 0.1 per cent of
Tanzanians; the population as of June 2014. This stems from
the limited coverage of fixed broadband metro and
• increase the usage of ICTs; and access networks. Improved coverage, especially
in rural areas, has helped to make mobile services
• facilitate the implementation of e-government more accessible, but mobile penetration also
initiatives. remains relatively low in Tanzania, standing at 60.1
per cent at the end of June 2014, leaving room
The NICTBB is managed and operated by for continued growth . The government awarded
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the incumbent fixed operator, Tanzania contracts to TTCL, in February 2014, and Vodacom,
Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL) on in April 2014, to expand coverage to under-served
behalf of the government. It should be noted that areas, and it supported the operators with the
the NICTBB network is completely independent universal access fund. The telecommunication
from TTCL’s network. The USD 200 million project regulator has also helped improve the affordability
is funded by the International Telecommunication of mobile services by introducing mobile
Construction Corporation (CITCC) of China at termination rate (MTR) cuts in March 2013.
the cost of USD 170 million – mainly thanks to a
soft loan from the Chinese Exim Bank and USD Case study: Johannesburg Broadband Network
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30 million from the Tanzanian Government. The Project (JBNP), South Africa
Tanzanian Government deployed a fibre cable on
the rail, electricity and gas networks in 2010 and This case study provides useful insights into a
pooled this fibre into a single SPV, the NICTBB. public outsourcing project that has – for a number
of reasons – become a public DBO project.
The NICTBB provides high-capacity, long-distance The Johannesburg municipal government took
wholesale capacity to fixed and mobile operators control of the project when contracts with private
and ISPs, as well as access to international contractors were terminated.
submarine fibre connectivity. The establishment of
PoPs across Tanzania allows operators to connect The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) municipal
their last-mile networks to a national backhaul government began the JBNP in 2006 in order to

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