SALCAB IS NOT FOR SALE
FREETOWN, SEPTEMBER 3rd, (SALONE TIMES) The government of Sierra Leone has in a press release dated 28 August 2020, denied that the government through the Ministry of Information and Communication has sold Sierra Leone Cable Limited (SALCAB).
“The Ministry would like to inform the general public that Government has no intention of selling SALCAB and that the rumor is baseless and unfounded,” the release revealed
That the Ministry as part of its overarching policy and institutional reform and in line with cluster 3.5 of the National Development Plan and the National Digital Transformation Policy has put a proposal to cabinet for the unbundling of the National Fibre Optic assets, comprising the submarine cable and the national terrestrial backbone presently manned by SALCAB.
That a cabinet committee made up of the Ministry of Finance, Office of the Attorney General, Public Private Partnership Unit and the Ministry of Information and Communication has been set up to work out technical details for the unbundling and to resubmit a proposal to cabinet for final decision.
The ministry denies that management control of SLACAB has been giving to a private company, noting that “the process of unbundling SALCAB has only commenced and no company has been awarded any contract.”
They pointed out that the ministry wishes to assure the public that the proposal reform is driven by government desire to increase broadband penetration, create the enabling environment to develop a digitally inclusive society and to reduce the cost of access to digital service.
