Tanzania’s Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa, informed parliament on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, that the country is in the implementation stage of a plan to connect the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to its National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB).
“The government has begun taking steps to implement the construction of a 186-kilometer-long fiber optic cable from Kigoma, Tanzania to Kalemie, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), through Lake Tanganyika,” said Prime Minister Majaliwa.
Majaliwa highlighted that the government has continued to implement the construction of the National ICT Broadband Backbone to cover all Tanzanian districts. So far, a total of 13,820 kilometers out of 16,280 kilometers had been constructed by February 2025, connecting 109 out of 139 districts, along with 111 communication service delivery centers.
It is expected that 186 kilometers of submarine optical fiber cable of single-mode type G652D will be constructed. This is along the Tanzania plans to enhance cross-border connectivity where so far, there is a connection with Zambia, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.
The project comes as the country is also considering extending its Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) from Kigoma through Burundi, with the potential to connect to eastern DRC, reaching as far as Bukavu.
