The attention of the Ministry of Information and Communications has been drawn to rumor making the rounds on various Social Media platforms and other media institutions indicating that Government has sold Sierra Leone Cable Network Limited (SALCAB).
“The Ministry would like to inform the general public that Government has no intention of selling SALCAB and that this rumour is baseless and unfounded,” the Ministry of Information and Communication said in a statement on Friday.
“The superintending Ministry as part of its overarching policy and institutional reform, informed by Cluster 3.5 of the National Development Plan and the Ministry’s National Digital Transformation policy has put a proposal to Cabinet for the unbundling of the National Fibre Optic asset comprising the Submarine Cable and the National Terrestrial Backbone presently manned by SALCAB,” the Ministry said in the statement.
“In view of the above, a Cabinet subcommittee comprising of the Ministry of Finance, Office of the Attorney General, the Public Private Partnership Unit and the Ministry of Information and Communications has been set up to work out the technical details for unbundling and resubmit a proposal to cabinet for final decision.”
Contrary to claims that the Ministry has transferred management control of SALCAB to a private company, the Ministry said that the process of unbundling SALCAB has only commenced, and no company has been awarded any contract, adding that the Procurement process for a private operator can only be done at a later stage in a competitive and transparent manner.
It could be recalled that the Government of Sierra Leone in partnership with the World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and the Chinese EXIM Bank has made significant investment to improve the telecommunication infrastructure through the deployment of Submarine Cable Landing station for International connectivity and the terrestrial national fibre backbone for domestic and regional interconnections.
The Ministry through the statement assured the public that the proposed reform is driven by Government’s desire to increase broadband penetration, create the enabling environment to develop a digitally inclusive society and to reduce the cost of access to digital services.
By Sallieu S. Kanu
31/08/2020. ISSUE NO: 7898