COMTEL Project is a program of the

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a regional economic community in Africa with twenty-one member states stretching from Tunisia to Eswatini. COMESA was formed in December 1994, replacing a Preferential Trade Area whi ...

(COMESA) aimed at creating a regional

telecommunication Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

s infrastructure for the 21 member states via a

fiber Fiber (spelled fibre in British English; from ) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often inco ...

backbone. This will help member states get rid of

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

links they currently use for their transit traffic between themselves going via Europe, America and Asia.

Implementation

COMESA allegedly entered into an agreement with the Anderberg-Ericsson Consortium of Mauritus as a strategic equity partner; however, it was subsequently reported that Ericsson would not participate as an equity partner. On February 26, 2007, it was announced that the COMTEL Project had encountered delays, leading to individual member countries developing their own regional telecommunication infrastructures.

References

Telecommunications in Africa International organizations based in Africa {{telecomm-stub