Thanks to the Fund for universal access and service of electronic communications (Fasuce), eight localities in the country, hitherto not covered, will have access to mobile telephony, assures the Fasuce which held an extraordinary session on Tuesday under the patronage of its President, Minister Léon Juste Ibombo.
The localities of Tsoumbou, in Kouilou, Loulombo and Vindza in Pool, Minga in Bouenza, Okouet in the Cuvette, Ekouasende, Ossele, Okeke and Ngania in the Plateaux, Elogo in Sangha, Binanga and Moungoundou Nord in Niari, Edzouga and Vaga in Cuvette-Ouest were chosen as the next destinations for the Facuse project.
Faced with the strong demand for electronic communications services from the populations, the government of Congo has prescribed to cover, as part of the 2021 action plan, these localities with a mobile network, precisely by voice, sms and data from a 2.75G network, called edge.
The budget of approximately 1 billion 600 thousand FCFA planned this year is also part of the continuation of the equipment of multimedia rooms in the schools concerned, the Sathoud technical high schools in Dolisie, Victor Augagneur and Poaty Bernard in Pointe-Noire.
The Congolese government has set itself the objective of covering white areas, that is to say not covered by a mobile network, and of reducing the digital divide with ultimately projects having a social and economic impact.
To succeed in this bet, the mobile operator MTN has deployed in record time around 50 branches in the departments of Kouilou, Niari, Bouenza, Lekoumou, Pool, Plateaux, Cuvette, Cuvette-ouest, Likouala and Sangha. Arpce’s technical teams work alongside the operator to ensure the connectivity of localities, some of which still use radios commonly known as “voice”.
Last year, in fact, around thirty districts were delighted to have access to mobile telephony thanks to the Fasuce, like Bokoma in the department of Cuvette, Bouanela in Likouala and Mboubée in the Plateaux, whose sites inaugurated on November 21 are functioning wonderfully and allowing the development of a new economy.
“We therefore intend to do work to connect 60 cities that were previously unconnected”, underlined in November 2020 the director general of Arpce, Marc Sakala, also secretary of Fasuce.
Among the points that this project will have to examine this year, support for the Congo Post and Savings Company (Sopeco) whose Fasuce will help to settle a debt with the general management of Air France Cargo of approximately 36 million FCFA. “This support, which would augur better prospects for recovery, would allow postal traffic to resume by 85% for the benefit of Sopeco”, said Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and the Digital Economy, Léon Juste Ibombo.
Le Fasuce wants to promote a digital inclusion policy for the benefit of rural communities and other disadvantaged sections of the population so that they benefit from the same opportunities.
At a time when the public authorities are faced with the problem of financing isolated rural areas and difficult to access by operators, the Fasuce is a concrete response to allow each Congolese to access a minimum of electronic communications services, voice and data, at affordable and non-discriminatory rates, regardless of its geographical location.