Senegal and Mali link their national fiber networks 🇸🇳 🇲🇱

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Senegal and Mali have taken a new step in their digital infrastructure: the two countries have interconnected their national fiber-optic backbones. Formally marked on October 5, 2026, in Kidira, in the Bakel department of eastern Senegal, the link is the result of a partnership between Sénégal Numérique SA (SENUM SA) and Mali’s Société malienne de transmission et de diffusion (SMTD-SA), two state-owned companies. It is meant to strengthen data transmission between the two countries and support digital services across West Africa.

Two national fiber networks, one link 📡

The ceremony in Kidira marks the connection of the backbones run by the two public companies. A backbone is the high-capacity artery that carries data over long distances before it reaches telecom operators and internet service providers. Linking them connects Senegal’s transmission infrastructure to Mali’s, at a time when demand for connectivity keeps growing in the region.

On the Senegalese side, SENUM SA relies on a national fiber network estimated at between 4,000 and 4,500 kilometers. SMTD-SA operates more than 3,000 kilometers of fiber in Mali (the company has also cited more than 3,500 kilometers, according to APA News). Connecting the two is, on paper, a gain in communication capacity between the two territories.

According to Cheick Oumar Traoré, director general of SMTD-SA, the project also fits into a regional push for cooperation among fiber network operators in West Africa.

« We laid 1,000 kilometers of fiber between Bamako, Djema and Ngugi to connect to the Mauritanian border. And then we did another 1,000 kilometers to connect to the Senegalese border through Diboli, » he said.

He added that the initiative is part of the West African network of fiber operators, launched two years ago, which aims to interconnect its ten member countries. He also mentioned a submarine cable coming from Portugal via Cape Verde. For Mali, a landlocked country, the link would also provide an additional route to international infrastructure reachable from Senegal’s coast, according to APA News.

What better connectivity is supposed to deliver 🌐

Beyond the physical connection, the link arrives as connectivity underpins telecoms, internet access and digital government services.

Traoré points to several expected benefits, chiefly better quality and availability of digital services and lower data transmission costs.

« Our ambition must be to make sure this interconnection helps, among other things, to improve the quality and availability of digital services, reduce data transmission costs, encourage the development of e-commerce, and support education and research, » the SMTD-SA director general said.

E-commerce, education and research are among the sectors that could benefit from stronger connectivity and greater transmission capacity. Those are, for now, stated ambitions rather than measured results.

Why Kidira 📍

Kidira, in the Bakel department, sits on the border and serves as a strategic crossing point for telecom infrastructure linking Senegal and Mali.

The project rests on coordination between the two public companies, the technical alignment of their networks and a stated desire to deepen bilateral digital cooperation.

The interconnection shows how much transmission infrastructure matters to West Africa’s digital economy. In time, the link could improve connectivity between the two countries and help new digital services emerge, in line with the goals set out by the project’s leaders. Whether prices actually fall and services improve will be the real test.

Do you think linking fiber networks across African countries can really improve internet access? Tell us what you think in the comments.

Sources : Africa 24, Tech Africa News, ApaNews