The Africa-BB-Maps project is strengthening digital transformation across Sub-Saharan Africa by supporting countries to design, deploy, and operationalise broadband mapping systems, ensuring that they are effective, sustainable, and adaptable to the changing needs of the region.
Working in close collaboration with national and regional stakeholders, the project is helping to establish the data foundation required for future-proof broadband mapping infrastructure to encourage much-needed ICT networks deployments.
By December 2025, 11 national broadband mapping events in Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe had mobilised over 600 participants from national administrations, regulators, telecommunications operators, European Union delegations, and regional organisations.
The workshops helped build a shared understanding of the strategic value of broadband mapping, and strengthened commitments to harmonise data sharing methods and established national working groups chaired by the respective National Regulatory Authorities. These groups will play an essential role in aligning policy, data governance, and technical requirements as the systems move towards deployment.
Complementing these efforts, policy and regulatory analyses were conducted in Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Botswana, Kenya, and Uganda. This work – which will be undertaken in the remaining countries in early 2026 – provides the institutional and governance foundation needed to ensure long-term sustainability, interoperability and national ownership of broadband mapping platforms.
Regional harmonisation
The collaborative momentum generated through Africa-BB-Maps is contributing to both national ownership and broader regional harmonisation, which is essential for cross-border infrastructure, roaming and spectrum coordination. Beneficiary countries have underscored their commitment by appointing focal points, establishing multi-agency working groups and validating early data-sharing workflows, further strengthening institutional readiness.
Looking ahead
The year 2026 marks a turning point from design and planning to full-scale implementation and deployment.
The Africa-BB-Maps project will leverage the ITU Academy Capacity Building Catalogue, and curate content to offer a structured suite of training programmes in geospatial analytics, data governance, metadata harmonisation, and open-data readiness — all priority areas identified during country engagements.
With deployment planned from 2026 and an expanding ecosystem of regional partners, Africa-BB-Maps is laying the groundwork for data-driven digital development across Africa.
This is an ITU Development #BDT4Impact story
About the project
Africa-BB-Maps, the Africa’s National Broadband Mapping Systems project, supported by the European Commission, will help establish broadband mapping systems to foster investment and digital transformation in Africa. With a budget of EUR 15 million over four years, the project benefits 11 countries: Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Visit the project page for more details.
