Ghana Rural Digital Connectivity & Data Centre Backbone
4,200 km rural fibre backbone plus a tier-3 regional data centre closing West Africa's connectivity gap.
Executive Summary
Construction of a rural open-access fibre backbone connecting 340 underserved communities and a new tier-3 data centre in Kumasi, anchoring cloud, fintech, and e-government services regionally. Wholesale capacity is pre-sold to three mobile network operators and one hyperscaler edge-partner under long-term IRU agreements.
Investment Thesis
- Rural broadband penetration is under 19%, well below the ECOWAS digital strategy target of 60% by 2030.
- IRU pre-sales to three MNOs and a hyperscaler edge partner cover 65% of backbone capacity at financial close.
- Open-access wholesale model avoids retail competitive risk and qualifies for DFI blended concessional tranches.
Use of Funds
Financial Snapshot
Transaction Structure
USD 50M senior debt (DFI-led), USD 18M mezzanine, USD 8M equity. Mezz tranche open via Deal Room.
Risk & Mitigation
- · Rights-of-way delays
- · Power reliability for data centre
- · Currency mismatch on local opex
- Government MOU securing expedited way-leave approvals
- Dual-grid plus solar-hybrid backup power design
- USD-indexed wholesale IRU contracts
Timeline & Milestones
- 2025 Q2Route survey & way-leave agreements
- 2025 Q4IRU pre-sale agreements signed
- 2026 Q2Senior debt commitment
- 2026 Q4Financial close
- 2028 Q2Full network commissioning
Sponsor
West Africa Fibre Networks Ltd
West Africa Fibre Networks is a 12-year-old regional telecom infrastructure developer operating 8,600 km of fibre across three West African markets.
ESG & Impact
- Connects 340 rural communities to broadband for the first time
- Solar-hybrid power cuts data centre diesel dependency 55%
- Digital-skills training for 2,000 local technicians
Data Room
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