Market assessment and entry strategy in the TMT sector for EBRD in Sub-Saharan Africa (EBRD-22522)

Countries
  • Benin
  • Ghana
  • Ivory Coast
  • Kenya
  • Nigeria
  • Senegal
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
U
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Borrower
Regional
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Communications
  • Law and Government
  • Technical Cooperation
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Grant
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
Not Disclosed
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ EBRD website

Updated in EWS Dec 13, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Nov 25, 2025

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is launching a Technical Cooperation (TC) project to assess the telecommunications, media, and technology (TMT) sector in its six newly approved Sub-Saharan African (SSA) Countries of Operations (COOs): Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, and Benin (and Ghana when approved).

The EBRD's expansion into these six SSA economies is creating a significant opportunity for the Bank to support one of the world's fastest-growing regions, where digital connectivity, infrastructure and innovation are central to economic transformation. Despite rapid growth in mobile usage, entrepreneurship and digital services, the region continues to face persistent structural challenges. Internet penetration in Africa remains only 38%, far below the global average of 68%, while fixed broadband access is limited, costly, and unevenly distributed between urban and rural areas. Data-centre infrastructure remains nascent, 4G coverage is inconsistent, and regulatory and policy frameworks are often fragmented or underdeveloped.

At the same time, the momentum for digital development is accelerating. The African internet economy is estimated to reach 5% of continental GDP by 2025, driven by expanding connectivity, fast-growing fintech ecosystems, regional infrastructure investments, and a rising demand for digital public and private services. Yet investment decisions - both public and private - remain constrained by insufficient market intelligence, gaps in policy coherence, and a lack of coordinated sector reforms.

Against this backdrop, the EBRD requires a comprehensive, evidence-based understanding of the TMT landscape in its new SSA markets to calibrate its strategic approach, identify investment and policy-dialogue entry points, and engage credibly with national authorities, regulators, private investors and development partners. This TC project will therefore deliver a structured assessment of market conditions, infrastructure gaps, policy constraints, and emerging opportunities across telecoms, broadband, data infrastructure and digital services.

TC ServicesThe Bank will engage a consultant to conduct an in-depth, cross-country study that will:

* Analyse regional and national TMT markets, covering mobile networks, fixed broadband, fibre infrastructure, data centres and cloud services, and emerging digital platforms.* Assess policy, regulatory and institutional frameworks, identifying gaps that affect affordability, competition, quality of service and private-sector participation.* Map key market players, including mobile network operators, internet service providers (ISPs), data-centre operators, infrastructure providers, tech innovators, and development actors.* Identify investment bottlenecks, structural constraints, and areas requiring reform or regulatory strengthening.* Recommend priority areas for EBRD investment, advisory and policy dialogue to support competitive, inclusive and well-governed digital markets across SSA.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

Investment amount not available at the time of disclosure.


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

No contacts available at the time of disclosure.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can request information by emailing: accessinfo@ebrd.com or by using this electronic form: https://www.ebrd.com/eform/information-request

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF EBRD

The Project Complaint Mechanism (PCM) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who have been or are likely to be adversely affected by an European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the PCM, it may assess compliance with EBRD's own policies and procedures to prevent harm to the environment or communities or it may assist you in resolving the problem that led to the complaint through a dialogue with those implementing the project. Additionally, the PCM has the authority to recommend a project be suspended in the event that harm is imminent.

You can contact the PCM at: pcm@ebrd.com or you can submit a complaint online using an online form at: http://www.ebrd.com/eform/pcm/complaint_form?language=en

You can learn more about the PCM and how to file a complaint at: http://www.ebrd.com/work-with-us/project-finance/project-complaint-mechanism.html

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