World Bank gives $150M for Africa infrastructure Mozambique, Tanzania and Malawi get funds in third round of program

Three Eastern and Southern African countries are to receive more than US$150 million from the World Bank for the third phase of a Regional Communication Infrastructure program.

The bank's executive board of directors has approved an International Development Association (IDA) credit to extend access to affordable communications services in Mozambique, Tanzania and Malawi, which never benefited from the first and the second phases of the program. The IDA is a financing arm of the World Bank, responsible for providing long-term, interest free loans to the world's poor countries.

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Kenya, Rwanda, Madagascar and Nigeria have already benefited from the bank's program, which aim to develop the region's telecommunications infrastructure.

The Regional Communication Infrastructure Program will help the region catch up with the rest of the world, said Peter Nicholas, the acting World Bank country manager for Zambia and Zimbabwe. Over the past few years, the African region has seen remarkable telecom infrastructure development, but the World Bank said it is not sufficient to lower the high cost of communication. The Africa region has the highest cost of communication in the world due to a dilapidated telecom infrastructure.

The bank has set aside assets of $424 million to increase broadband connectivity for citizens, governments and businesses in the Eastern and Southern African region. Under the third phase of the Regional Communication Infrastructure Program, the bank will give Tanzania $100 million, Malawi $20 million and Mozambique $31 million.

"The money will help Malawi and Mozambique to move with the rest of the region in developing their information and communication technology infrastructures and improve communication," Nicholas said.

Additionally, the bank wants Malawi and Mozambique to develop their national backbone networks, which will later be connected to the East Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSY) project that is being laid under the Indian Ocean and is being supported by the World Bank.

Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique are members of the EASSY project and the bank believes that connecting to the undersea cable will reduce the cost of international telephony and broadband Internet services.

The first phase of the Regional Communication Infrastructure Program was approved by the bank's board of directors in 2007 and provided assistance to Burundi, Kenya and Madagascar at a cost of $164 million. The second phase, a $24 million grant for Rwanda, was approved in September last year.

The initiative was created by the World Bank in partnership with the African Development Bank to help mobilize funds to invest in ICT infrastructure and applications, advising on policy and regulation of the ICT sector across the African region.