Liberia partners with US-based Cybastion to accelerate digitalization
September 25th 2024
In July 2023, the government announced a digital transformation project, in partnership with the telecoms regulator. The initiative aims in particular to promote the adoption of e-commerce and smart technologies in Liberia.
Liberian Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with U.S. technology company Cybastion Institute of Technology on Monday, September 23, on the sidelines of the 79th United Nations General Assembly. The collaboration will include the construction of a data center, as well as connecting Liberia to a new submarine cable to strengthen the country’s digital infrastructure.
“ Today’s signing paves the way for further technical discussions with relevant government agencies on the provision of digital services under the Digital Fast Track program ,” Nyanti said. The program is designed to accelerate Liberia’s digital transformation, focusing on improving digital services and infrastructure across the country, it was learned.
The move comes as Liberia has only one data center, according to Datacenter Platform. Meanwhile, data from Submarine Cable Map shows that the country is only served by one submarine cable: the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE). The government recently began working to land another cable in the country as ACE has been experiencing frequent outages that disrupt the national internet network.
The implementation of the project is expected to support the Liberian government’s digital transformation ambitions, which sees digital infrastructure as “ a cornerstone ” to accelerate national development goals. As a reminder, a joint study by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Google predicts that the digital economy in Africa will be worth at least $712 billion by 2050, or 8.5% of the continent’s GDP.
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