Fibre backbones and infrastructure sharing in Somalia

Where Xidig members may contribute

• Network engineering: fibre planning, construction supervision, operations and maintenance.
• Regulation and economics: wholesale pricing, access terms and dispute resolution.
• GIS and mapping: documenting where fibre and coverage exist, since no public coverage map was found.
• Training: fibre splicing, testing and network operations for Somali technicians.

Possible services, research, supplier or collaboration roles

• Fibre construction and maintenance services, through tendered contracts.
• A public map of backbone routes and coverage, built from official and operator data.
• Research on the cost of connectivity outside major cities.

Who may find this useful

• Telecom engineers and network planners, in Somalia and the diaspora.
• Investors considering infrastructure partnerships. This is not investment advice.
• Road engineers and planners, because fibre can be laid with road works.
• Researchers and students in ICT policy.

The backbone problem

What a backbone is. International capacity arrives at cable landing stations on the coast. A backbone is the high-capacity fibre that carries it between cities; backhaul links towers and towns to the backbone. Without them, towns rely on microwave radio or satellite, which carry less and cost more. The 2017 World Bank study found satellite "three to ten times more expensive than international fibre optic bandwidth".

Where things stand.

• Undersea cables: Somalia is connected to five international submarine cables, landing at Mogadishu, Bosaso, Kismayo and Berbera (National Communications Authority). See Connectivity, e-government and data centres.
• Inland fibre: a November 2024 trade-press report described the domestic network as "underdeveloped and fragmented", citing a 2024 World Bank report that "The absence of a robust backbone network prevents the distribution of international capacity across the country". A World Bank project document says the "lack of terrestrial fiber within the countries, particularly in borderland areas, limits them from accessing cross-border connectivity with neighboring countries such as Kenya".
• Coverage: the project's 2024 financial statements, prepared by the federal government, say that "In the absence of an integrated fiber optic backbone network, more than 70 percent of Somalia's population does not have access to broadband services".

The 2017 World Bank plan. The study, Strategy and PPP Options for Supporting the ICT Sector and Broadband Connectivity in Somalia, found:

• Cost: "The envisaged domestic backbone network would cost between US$67 million and 100 million to build", at about US$25,000 per km on land.
• Routes costed: Mogadishu–Garowe (948 km), Garowe–Qardho (206 km), Garowe–Burao (384 km), Mogadishu–Baidoa (244 km), Kismayo–Liboi on the Kenyan border (245 km), Waiye–Badhan (180 km), and Mogadishu–Kismayo either on land (483 km) or as a domestic undersea cable: about 2,675 km in all.
• Model: a PPP that should be "led by the private sector", with two options set out: a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) to build and own the network, or an advance-purchase model in which capacity is bought before construction.
• Licensing: the licensing framework "should be changed to cover wholesale activities as well" as retail.
• Laying fibre with roads: adding fibre ducts costs "at most 10% of the cost of building a new road", so fibre should be laid when roads are rebuilt. See Somalia's roads and trade corridors.
• Why sharing failed before: the study recorded that the "Absence of a regulator led to the failure of the voluntary interconnectivity agreement among operators". The National Communications Authority (NCA) was later established under the Communications Act.

Money now in play: the World Bank regional digital project.

• Allocation: Somalia is in Phase I of the Eastern Africa Regional Digital Integration Project, approved in May 2023. A World Bank project document gives Somalia's total as US$80 million (SDR 59.5 million), with US$50 million for connectivity; the rest goes to data and online markets and project management.
• Why Somalia: "South Sudan and Somalia were chosen for Phase I as they had not yet benefited from any substantial IDA funding for their digital sectors."
• Feasibility study: on 25 October 2025 the Ministry of Communications and Technology launched a study to "map existing broadband infrastructure, identify network gaps, and design optimal routes for new backbone and cross-border links". No results have been published yet.
• Cross-border links: the project's Ethiopia phase plans links from Imi to Dolo and from Gode to Beledweyne. A Kenyan World Bank-funded project plans fibre along the Isiolo–Mandera corridor, with cross-border connectivity.
• The government's proposal: no source connects its US$225M telecom proposal with this project. They may overlap.

The sharing rules.

• Licence obligations: the NCA's national infrastructure licence lets holders build "fiber/copper cable, towers" and requires them to "offer to make its Communication Infrastructure available to other Licensees, on fair, reasonable terms", without "undue preference" or "unfair discrimination".
• Sharing guidelines: the NCA consulted on Infrastructure Sharing Guidelines from 20 July to 20 August 2025. Xidig could not open the final document, and the guidelines do not yet appear on the NCA's list of regulations.
• Undersea cables: the Submarine Cable Regulations 2025 (consulted on in April 2025; endorsed by the Federal Cabinet in June 2025, according to a regional initiative) require landing-station operators to give licensed providers "fair and not unreasonably discriminatory access to submarine cable capacity".
• Policy direction: the NCA's 2024 regulatory roadmap plans to "Mandate Infrastructure Sharing" and to develop a national broadband plan. In late 2024 officials also discussed a unified fibre deployment policy to encourage operators to collaborate; Xidig found no evidence it has been adopted.
• Regional alignment: a 2025 regional update reports that the "NCA is facilitating a discussion with the operators on Somalia joining the ONA, aligning with the EAC" (Horn of Africa Initiative).

Prices. A 2020 international price survey put Somalia's mobile data at about US$0.50 per gigabyte, among the cheapest in the world. In August 2026 the largest operator told local media the average customer pays about US$0.50 for 1GB of data plus 40 minutes of calls. A World Bank document describes Somalia as having "some of the lowest prices for broadband on the continent". Xidig found no official wholesale capacity prices.

What this means (Xidig's interpretation). Cheap data in the cities and poor coverage elsewhere point to the same gap: inland fibre. Shared or open-access fibre, built once and used by all operators, is the approach the World Bank and the regulator have both pointed to. The government's telecom proposal fits that direction, but its scale and relationship to existing projects are unclear.

Dependencies and implementation constraints

• Security along long inland routes.
• Rights of way across federal, member-state and local land.
• Agreement among competing operators on sharing and wholesale terms.
• Power for network equipment.
• Coordination with road projects and cross-border links.

Risks and unknowns

• Duplication: several operators building parallel fibre instead of sharing.
• Cuts and damage to long routes, which need maintenance funding.
• Unclear overlap between the government's telecom proposal and the World Bank project.
• Regulatory delay on sharing guidelines and the broadband plan.

Questions members should verify before acting

1. What routes does the 2025 feasibility study recommend?
2. Have the Infrastructure Sharing Guidelines been adopted?
3. How does the government's US$225M telecom proposal relate to the World Bank project's connectivity funding?
4. Is there a tender? Check the Ministry of Communications and Technology and World Bank procurement pages.

What is confirmed, and what isn't

Confirmed

• The 2017 World Bank backbone study, its costs and routes.
• Somalia's participation in the regional digital project and the 2025 feasibility study launch.
• The NCA licence's sharing obligations and the 2025 consultations.

Our interpretation

• Inland fibre is the main gap behind uneven access.

Not yet verified

• Current operator fibre routes and total length.
• The content and status of the sharing guidelines.
• Official coverage and wholesale price data.

Relevant next steps

• Follow the Ministry of Communications and Technology and the NCA for the feasibility study and sharing rules.
• Engineers: watch World Bank-financed procurement notices for Somalia.