Launched in 2016, the PDITT project (Project for the development of Telecommunications Infrastructures and ICT) aims to deploy a national Fibre network of nearly 2,500 km in order to promote the use of digital technology.
The PDITT project is an essential cornerstone of the Government's action programme, "Benin Revealed", aimed at giving a lasting boost to Benin's economy. The Government wanted to put digital technology at the heart of the programme's 45 projects.
By deploying a modern and reliable high-speed broadband network, PDITT will enable a great number of companies and individuals to develop a variety of digital uses that will promote the competitiveness of professionals, the digitisation of administrative processes as well as improving education and health.
We called on Sofrecom to monitor and supervise this deployment, a joint undertaking by Benin Telecom Infrastructure (BTI) (which is responsible for the running of this network and for its marketing to operators), Benin Telecom Services (BTS) (responsible for marketing it to businesses and the general public) and Huawei, the hardware supplier selected to supply and deploy the equipment. As an independent firm, we also entrusted Sofrecom with guaranteeing a level of infrastructural quality in line with the best networks worldwide.
Sofrecom's experts brought us a wealth of technical expertise, in particular regarding IMS and FTTx, completely new issues for BTI and BTS. We were able to optimise designs and quantities ("Bill of Quantities") and thus acquire an infrastructure that meets our long-term strategy while optimising costs.
To manage this project, Sofrecom set up a multi-level governance system: all stakeholders were able to share the same information, relay any alerts that were raised and, above all, take joint decisions, which significantly improved their responsiveness.
As an integral part of the project, the transfer of skills in the form of classroom and field training has enabled BTI and BTS engineers to improve their technical expertise, methodology and autonomy.
Sofrecom's experts were very rigorous: a regular inspection schedule and a presence in the field ensured that designs and rollouts respected international standards and, consequently, our service quality objectives.
This monitoring and follow-up mission was crucial to 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 network infrastructure allows us to provide better broadband service to operators in neighbouring countries and we have already seen a significant increase in customer satisfaction.
