Deployment of a

Very High Broadband

infrastructure in Benin

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Sofrecom, the Know-How Network Deployment of a Very High Broadband infrastructure in Benin

Digital technology at the heart of Benin's transformation

As part of the five-year “Revealing Benin" (“Bénin Révélé”) project launched by the country’s

President, Patrice Talon, Benin has set itself the goal of becoming the digital services platform for

the whole of West Africa by 2021, making Information and Communication Technologies the key

driver of its socio-economic development.

The Digital Economy Agency (DEA), the autonomous executive agency of the Beninese

government, is supporting this aim in 2 major ways: by deploying a very high broadband

infrastructure throughout the country and fostering the emergence of a digital ecosystem that will

develop future e-services.

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PDITT: the numbers

2019 km of backbone

195 km of metropolitan area

network

255 km of access network

TOTAL: 2400+ km

of which 300 km is overhead

500+ Beninese employees

at the height of the project

18 month project

PDITT must help as many companies and private individuals as it can to develop a variety of

digital uses in order to

boost competitiveness among professionals

make administrative processes paperless

improve and modernise education and health.

The PDITT project: a large-scale multi-party project

Sofrecom, the Know-How Network

The objectives of the project are: increase the bandwidth, coverage, availability and

reliability of the network. renovate the existing

systems, while also deploying new, state-of-the-art

and scalable infrastructure.

significantly improve the quality of the service

provided, ensuring that it is consistent with the best

international benchmarks.

This objective is of special interest to client

operators in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger

since these landlocked countries, which do not have

access to submarine cabling, are dependent on

Benin for their internet connectivity.

With this in mind, the Project for the development of Telecommunications and ICT Infrastructures

(PDITT) was launched in December 2016.

Deployment of a Very High Broadband infrastructure in Benin

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The PDITT project requires the provision and installation of:

an IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) network core and 48 IP/MPLS routers

an optical fibre backbone infrastructure in excess of 2000 km in length

an FTTX access network in excess of 250 km in length

an IP/MPLS metropolitan area network extending almost 200 km

30 LTE-4G mobile radio base stations to bolster existing installations

Several actors are involved in the project:

3 project owners:

o The Digital Economy Agency (DEA), the developer of the High Speed infrastructure

deployment projects

o Benin Telecom Infrastructure (BTI), responsible for the operations of this

infrastructure and its marketing to operators

o Benin Telecom Services (BTS), responsible for marketing to companies and the

general public

1 project manager: Huawei, the equipment provider selected to supply and deploy the

equipment

Initially, there was no unanimity in terms of the choice of technology and methodology for the

project: IMS and FTTx were uncharted territory for BTI and BTS and they therefore had very little in

the way of in-house expertise. Nevertheless, all stakeholders shared the same goal, namely:

delivering a high-quality very high broadband network as quickly as possible.

For this reason, DNA and Benin Telecom used Sofrecom as

their monitoring and control entity to support them on this

project.

Sofrecom’s duties cover the following activities:

• Review of project plan and each individual work site

• Methodological assistance and technical support with

regard to international standards and best practices

for network deployment

• End-to-end operational follow-up

• Complete quality control of civil engineering works,

fibre optic cable installation and equipment

deployment

• Provisional acceptance of the works

“We chose Sofrecom for its

independence, technical

expertise, its reputation for

producing a quality end-result,

and the experience it has

collaborating with Huawei on

previous projects”

Mr. Serge Adjovi

Director of the DEA

Given the size of the investment, the primary objective for Sofrecom is to ensure that the

durability and quality if the infrastructure delivered is on the same level as the best networks

in the world.

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In order to achieve this objective, Sofrecom first assembled a team made up of some of the most

experienced project managers and experts in the required technical fields (fibre optics,

FTTX/Metro, energy and environment, civil engineering, IMS and IP), all with experience working in

West Africa. In total, 9 Sofrecom experts were involved on a full-time or temporary basis and

occupied key positions in the project.

7 engineers employed by Sofrecom’s Beninese partner, J&J, also joined the team: they gradually

built upon their expertise in project/team management to overcome the challenges of fibre optic

deployment.

“Sofrecom’s input was decisive in the

choice of leadership structure, enabling the

best possible decisions to be made

throughout the duration of the project.”

Djalil Assouma

Chief Executive Officer of BTI

“The coordination of working groups was

crucial in keeping the teams engaged”

Marc André Loko

Director of the Very High Speed projects -

DEA

Specialised expertise

Strong leadership to ensure responsiveness, oversight and motivation

The project was divided into several streams running parallel with one another. The main streams

were backbone, metro area, IMS + IPMPLS, FTTx access, and environment/energy

Sofrecom introduced a multi-level leadership model:

• one weekly working group per stream to process alerts or make decisions specific to that

particular project stream

• one weekly operational committee meeting to address operational issues affecting multiple

streams and make decisions in a coordinated manner

• one bi-monthly steering committee meeting attended by a smaller number of people

discussing more strategic issues

• one quarterly steering committee meeting with the specific purpose of dealing with

contractual issues involving the directors of each entity

These various bodies involved in exchange and

decision-making played an essential role, sharing

the same information at all levels of

management, coordinating and motivating

teams, monitoring actions and, most importantly,

remaining responsive during the decision-making

process.

By relying solely on specific facts identified on the

ground, Sofrecom was able to make impartial

and quality-driven recommendations, issuing

alerts to rectify situations that could have

seriously impacted the project. Thus, Huawei, BTI,

BTS and DNA were able to agree on concerted

solutions as soon as possible.

Sofrecom, the Know-How Network Deployment of a Very High Broadband infrastructure in Benin

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The most important objective is infrastructure quality. This was the guiding principle behind the

technological choices and ad hoc decisions made throughout the duration of the project.

From the outset, the various Sofrecom experts reviewed the proposed designs, technical

specifications and recommended quantities (“Bill of Quantities”) and made recommendations to

ensure that these choices were appropriate to the current and future strategies and needs of BTI

and BTS. These recommendations made it possible to optimise designs and save more than €1

million.

With regard to technological choices, international standards were the benchmark.

Quality as a target

When working on such a large-scale

project employing hundreds of

subcontractors with little expertise in

telecoms and even less in fibre optics,

faults are inevitable. These include

trenches not dug deep enough for

fibre optics, concrete of insufficient

quality, sub-standard quality of posts

for the overhead network, unsuitable

chamber to chamber fibre

compression/transit methods, etc.

Thanks to a regular verification schedule and the strong

presence of Sofrecom, BTI, BTS and Huawei supervisors

on the ground, problems were identified and corrected

quickly in most cases.

“The task of monitoring, oversight

and control is achieved”

César Degbé

General Manager of BTS

In the event that a major fault appeared, Sofrecom’s experts did not hesitate to halt the validation

of a section in spite of the delay this produced. They then made recommendations for the work to

be resumed according to the standards and quality expected. Methodology and thoroughness

were what ensured the quality of the final network.

Sofrecom, the Know-How Network Deployment of a Very High Broadband infrastructure in Benin

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Skills transfer and sharing to prepare for the future

Diversity of profiles driving success:

technical expertise + local knowledge

It is the combination of Huawei and Sofrecom’s

technical expertise and the BTI and BTS engineers’

specific knowledge of the local context and standard

practices that was the foundation of the project’s

success.

Skills transfer

Throughout the project, Sofrecom experts have

worked to ensure that BTI and BTS engineers, as well

as the supervisors of the various sites, have access to

numerous training courses equipping them with the

specific skills they need to deploy and manage the

future operations of a fibre optic network:

• Huawei China Equipment Training

• technical face-to-face training by Sofrecom,

• continuous field training

All of these training programmes have enabled BTI

and BTS engineers to gain expertise, new technical

skills and autonomy. They also prepared BTI

engineers for their future responsibilities as network

operations’ managers.

“I learned a lot through Sofrecom: how

to react, how to manage conflicts, how

to draft a report”

Apollinaire Djossou

BTS Project Manager

“Sofrecom helped us understand WDM

equipment better by taking us out in

the field with them to show us how

things are done and teach us what

check lists to run. This then enabled us

to become more autonomous”

BTI Team Leader for supervision in the

Southern zones

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The teams took care to incorporate the local factors into the project whether these were cultural

or geographical – rainy season, marshy terrain, impact of deployment on the population or

respect for the voodoo traditions – all were an integral part of the project. The design and

planning schedules were frequently adapted to accommodate the above factors.

Keep various population groups informed, so as to provide reassurance and help them to

understand the project

Wide-reaching communication efforts among the population have informed people of the nature,

objectives and impacts of the works. This has made it easier for the Beninese citizens to accept

the project even if it has occasionally found itself at odds with age-old traditions such as the bush

fire, for example; this technique used for hunting in certain regions has had to be banned in the

areas through which the overhead network runs.

Environmental protection

Sofrecom enlisted the services of an environmentalist to analyse the impacts of deployments on

local populations and make recommendations. For example, the route of certain sections has

been modified to minimise the impact on the agricultural land they cross.

Respecting local customs and the environment and creating

communication initiatives to reassure the general population

In an effort to minimise the

impacts of such a deployment,

the project’s stakeholders

wanted PDITT to integrate

environmental objectives and to

compensate for the damage

caused by the deployment. As a

result, more than half of the

installed equipment is powered

by solar power.

What’s more, 5 trees were replanted for each tree cut down as a way of compensating for

damage caused to the forests. The project also reused existing ducts for 55% of the 2,500 km

deployed in order to minimise costs, deadlines and damage to the environment.

Sofrecom, the Know-How Network Deployment of a Very High Broadband infrastructure in Benin

PDITT: a technical, commercial and human success

This major project was carried out in just 18 months and the benefits of PDITT are already

being felt:

• more than 2,500 km of optical infrastructure and 90 points of presence have been

deployed or renovated to increase network coverage and availability and to provide as

many people as possible with internet access.

• an analysis of its market, the needs of its customers and its portfolio led BTI to rethink

its pricing structure, reducing wholesale prices by more than 30%: BTI was thus able to

sign new wholesale contracts with other operators.

• the upgrade of the existing network has generated an immediately perceptible

improvement in service quality. BTI has already noted a significant increase in the

satisfaction levels of wholesale customers in Burkina Faso and Niger, which have risen

from 6/10 to 8/10.

• The Beninese have played a key role in bringing PDITT to completion: with 80 engineers

recruited by Huawei, 7 supervisors brought in from Sofrecom and its local partner, J&J,

as well as the numerous workers on the construction sites, the number of Beninese

people involved in this project is estimated at over 500.

By virtue of this new state-of-the-art infrastructure, Benin Telecom will be able to offer businesses

and individuals new and improved deals. With much higher speeds, these may include new

features such as online cloud storage and packages that combine unlimited internet access and

voice calls.

This project also provides a solid foundation on which the government can develop “smart”

administrative procedures, offering paperless processes and new services for each and every one

of their citizens.

Very high broadband has become a reality in Benin, thus blazing a trail for the state to step up

and deliver on all the promises of the Revealing Benin programme.

Sofrecom, the Know-How Network Deployment of a Very High Broadband infrastructure in Benin

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24 avenue du petit parc

94307 Vincennes Cedex

France

www.sofrecom.com Part of the Orange group

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