A Structuring Project for the Digital Development of Benin
Launched in 2016, the PDITT (Project for the Development of Telecommunications and ICT Infrastructure) aims to deploy a fiber optic network of nearly 2,500 km across the country to promote digital usage.
The PDITT project is an essential foundation of the Government's action program, "Bénin Révélé", to sustainably revive Benin's economy. The Government wanted to place digital technology at the core of the 45 projects in the program.
By deploying a modern and reliable high-speed broadband infrastructure, PDITT will enable as many people as possible—businesses and individuals alike—to develop various digital uses that will enhance professional competitiveness, the digitization of administrative processes, and also education and healthcare.
Technical Expertise and Rigorous Support
We called on Sofrecom as a monitoring and control firm to coordinate the deployment between Benin Telecom Infrastructure (BTI), in charge of the infrastructure’s operations and its commercialization to operators; Benin Telecom Services (BTS), responsible for marketing to businesses and the general public; and Huawei, the equipment supplier selected to provide and deploy the infrastructure. As an independent firm, we also expected Sofrecom to guarantee an infrastructure quality level worthy of the best global networks.Sofrecom’s experts brought significant technical expertise, particularly on IMS and FTTx, which were entirely new topics for BTI and BTS.
We were able to optimize designs and Bills of Quantities, thus obtaining an infrastructure aligned with our long-term strategy while optimizing costs.
To manage this project, Sofrecom implemented multi-level governance: all stakeholders were able to share the same information, raise potential alerts, and above all, make joint decisions, which significantly improved their responsiveness.
An integral part of the project, skills transfer through in-person and on-site training allowed BTI and BTS engineers to gain technical expertise, methodology, and autonomy.Sofrecom’s experts demonstrated great rigor: a schedule of regular inspections and on-site presence ensured that designs and deployments met international standards and therefore our quality of service objectives.
This monitoring and control mission was decisive in the success of the project: in less than 18 months, we deployed or renovated nearly 2,500 km of optical infrastructure and 90 points of presence.
Moreover, the new infrastructure has made it possible to better serve neighboring countries’ operators with high-speed broadband, and we have already seen a notable increase in customer satisfaction.
