Ivory Coast Considers Satellite in Fight Against Pirates

By Olivier Monnier

(Bloomberg) — Ivory Coast is contemplating launching a satellite tv for pc to fight safety threats from pirates within the Gulf of Guinea and Islamist militants within the West African area, Telecommunications Minister Bruno Kone mentioned.

“We’ve decided to conduct a technical and economic study that will tell us the relevance of such a project,” Kone mentioned by cellphone on June 17 from Abidjan, the business capital. The West African nation is at present leasing capability from business satellites and can calculate whether or not utilizing its personal could possibly be cheaper, he mentioned.

“Given our needs and how much it costs every year, wouldn’t it be more profitable for us to have our own satellite?” Kone mentioned, including that the choice will most likely be taken by the federal government this 12 months. “It’s necessary to provide ourselves the means to follow” safety threats extra intently, he mentioned.

Pirates function within the Gulf of Guinea, the place Nigeria, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and different nations produce about 3 million barrels of oil a day. Boko Haram, the Islamist group most prevalent in northeast Nigeria, has threatened to destabilize the area with assaults and kidnappings, whereas armed males on motorbikes ambushed a security-force station in southern Mali close to the border of Ivory Coast on June 10, killing one officer.

Ivory Coast, the world’s largest producer of cocoa and second-largest grower of cashew nuts, might additionally use a satellite tv for pc for company and authorities communications, agriculture and climate forecasts, Kone mentioned. The nation’s financial system is anticipated to develop by 7.7 p.c this 12 months, up from 7.5 p.c in 2014, in contrast with a median of 4.5 p.c for sub-Saharan African nations, in line with the International Monetary Fund.

If there have been free capability, mobile-phone firms resembling MTN Group Ltd. and Orange SA, Ivory Coast’s two largest wi-fi carriers, might additionally use the satellite tv for pc, Kone mentioned.