The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report West Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Project - SOP3 (P155876) West Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Project - SOP3 (P155876) AFRICA WEST | Western Africa | Digital Development Global Practice | IBRD/IDA | Investment Project Financing | FY 2017 | Seq No: 8 | ARCHIVED on 03-May-2021 | ISR46102 | Implementing Agencies: The Republic of Guinea Bissau, Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications Key Dates Key Project Dates Bank Approval Date: 24-Mar-2017 Effectiveness Date: 29-May-2018 Planned Mid Term Review Date: 12-May-2021 Actual Mid-Term Review Date: Original Closing Date: 31-May-2022 Revised Closing Date: 31-May-2022 pdoTable Project Development Objectives Project Development Objective (from Project Appraisal Document) The Development Objectives of this project are to contribute to increasing the geographical reach of broadband networks, and reducing costs of communication services in the territory of the Recipient, and between the Recipient and ECOWAS countries. Has the Project Development Objective been changed since Board Approval of the Project Objective? No Components Table Name Supporting Connectivity:(Cost $31.59 M) Enabling environment for improved connectivity:(Cost $2.04 M) Implementation support:(Cost $1.36 M) National backbone and Restructuring of GuineTelecom/GuineTel (co-financing) Overall Ratings Name Previous Rating Current Rating Progress towards achievement of PDO Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory Overall Implementation Progress (IP) Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory Overall Risk Rating Substantial Substantial Implementation Status and Key Decisions The team has conducted a formal virtual mission from the 26th to the 28th of October 2020. The next mission is planned virtually in May 2021 and will include the presentation of the final Mid-term review report. The WARCIP disbursement rate is at 85% as of April 2021 (from 83.23% in October 2020). The project has seen the following main recent progress: First, the construction works at the ACE landing station have resumed and are completed at 98%. The ACE cable is scheduled to be operational maximum 6 months after the delivery of the ACE landing station . Second, the government is committed to conduct the rehabilitation of the road linking the ACE BMH to the ACE landing station and is mobilizing the budget needed. 5/3/2021 Page 1 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report West Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Project - SOP3 (P155876) Third, and regarding the construction of the Suro-Antula fiber optic backbone (to link the submarine cable to OMVG network), the contract is signed, the PAPs compensation budget was mobilized by the government, and the WARCIP PIU is currently putting in place the committee for the PAP's compensations. Risks Systematic Operations Risk-rating Tool Risk Category Rating at Approval Previous Rating Current Rating Political and Governance High Substantial Substantial Macroeconomic Moderate Substantial Substantial Sector Strategies and Policies High Substantial Substantial Technical Design of Project or Program Substantial Substantial Substantial Institutional Capacity for Implementation and High Substantial Substantial Sustainability Fiduciary Substantial Substantial Substantial Environment and Social Moderate Moderate Moderate Stakeholders Moderate Moderate Moderate Other -- -- -- Overall High Substantial Substantial Results PDO Indicators by Objectives / Outcomes improved quality of service IN00974144 ►Volume of international traffic: international communications (Internet, Telecoms and Data) per person Kbits per second per person (Text, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 3.70 6.90 0.00 12.90 Date 31-Dec-2016 31-Dec-2018 29-Apr-2021 31-May-2022 Project was declared effective on May 2018. Indicators were populated for December 2018 but then head of ARN changed and since then telecom regulator is more involved in local politics than telecom regulation. This resulted in the inability of the ARN to populate the projects indicators. Comments: Following efforts made by the PIU, ARN has re-started in FY21 to share project indicator values (in coordination with telecom operators). However values received so far are partial and not accurate calling for more consultation between ARN and telcos before values can be entered (retroactively) in ISR. This particular indicator was left empty in the values received from ARN. 5/3/2021 Page 2 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report West Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Project - SOP3 (P155876) improved penetration of service IN00974145 ►Access to Internet Services (number of subscribers per 100 people) (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 4.60 19.60 38.00 22.00 Date 31-Dec-2016 31-Dec-2018 29-Apr-2021 31-May-2022 The Project was declared effective in May 2018. The Indicators were populated for December 2018, but in the period that followed the head of ARN changed and the telecom regulator became more involved in local politics and less in telecom regulation. This resulted in the inability of the ARN to produce the project indicators. Following efforts made by the PIU, ARN has resumed sharing project indicator values in FYI21 (in coordination with the telecom operators). However the values received so far are partial and inaccurate Comments: calling for more consultation between ARN and the telcos before the values can be submitted (retroactively) in ISR. As the submarine cable is not yet operational, the substantial increase in the number of internet subscribers is due to an improvement of the telecom operators backbone and the deployment of cross- border fiber optic cables by both of them (with Senegal by Orange and with Senegal and Guinea by MTN). IN00974153 ►Access to Telephone Services (fixed mainlines plus cellular phones per 100 people) (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 72.00 87.40 90.00 82.00 Date 31-Dec-2016 31-Dec-2018 29-Apr-2021 31-May-2022 The Project was declared effective in May 2018. The Indicators were populated for December 2018, but in the period that followed the head of ARN changed and the telecom regulator became more involved in local politics and less in telecom regulation. This resulted in the inability of the ARN to produce the project indicators. Following efforts made by the PIU, ARN has resumed sharing project indicator values in FYI21 (in coordination with the telecom operators). However the values received so far are partial and inaccurate Comments: calling for more consultation between ARN and the telcos before the values can be submitted (retroactively) in ISR. As the submarine cable is not yet operational, the increase in the number of fixed mainline and cellular subscribers is due to an improvement of the telecom operators backbone and the deployment of cross- border fiber optic cables by both of them (with Senegal by Orange and with Senegal and Guinea by MTN). higher affordability of service IN00974151 ►Average monthly price of international wholesale E1 capacity link from Bissau to Europe (Amount(USD), Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 4,000.00 0.00 152.00 169.00 5/3/2021 Page 3 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report West Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Project - SOP3 (P155876) Date 31-Dec-2016 31-Dec-2018 29-Apr-2021 31-May-2022 The Project was declared effective in May 2018. The Indicators were populated for December 2018, but in the period that followed the head of ARN changed and the telecom regulator became more involved in local politics and less in telecom regulation. This resulted in the inability of the ARN to produce the project indicators. Following efforts made by the PIU, ARN has resumed sharing project indicator values in FYI21 (in coordination with the telecom operators). However the values received so far are partial and inaccurate calling for more consultation between ARN and the telcos before the values can be submitted Comments: (retroactively) in ISR. As the submarine cable is not yet operational, the substantial decrease in the price of international whoesale E1 capacity link is due to the deployment of cross-border fiber optic cables by both telecom operators (with Senegal by Orange and with Senegal and Guinea by MTN). The value of this indicator has seen a sudden and sharp drop between Q1-2020 and Q2-2020 which warrants and explanation from telecom regulator ARN. increased number of beneficiaries IN00974152 ►Direct project beneficiaries (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 1,296,222.00 0.00 0.00 1,702,619.00 Date 31-Dec-2016 31-Dec-2018 29-Apr-2021 31-May-2022 Project was declared effective on May 2018. Indicators were populated for December 2018 but then head of ARN changed and since then telecom regulator is more involved in local politics than telecom regulation. This resulted in the inability of the ARN to populate the projects indicators. Comments: Following efforts made by the PIU, ARN has re-started in FY21 to share project indicator values (in coordination with telecom operators). However values received so far are partial and not accurate calling for more consultation between ARN and telcos before values can be entered (retroactively) in ISR. IN00974154 Female beneficiaries (Percentage, Custom Supplement) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 51.00 51.00 51.00 51.00 IN00974155 ►Grievances registered related to delivery of project benefits that are actually addressed (%) (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 0.00 90.00 Date 31-Dec-2016 31-Dec-2019 31-Dec-2019 31-May-2022 No grievances/complaints received/addressed so far. The PTBA 2021 includes an action plan to improve the grievances system and promote it within the Comments: population. Overall Comments PDO Project was declared effective on May 2018. 5/3/2021 Page 4 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report West Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Project - SOP3 (P155876) Indicators were populated for December 2018 but then head of ARN changed and since then telecom regulator is more involved in local politics than telecom regulation. This resulted in the inability of the ARN to populate the projects indicators. Following efforts made by the PIU, the regulator ARN and telecom operators have shared in FY21 some project indicator values. However, the values received so far are partial and inaccurate, calling for the necessity of more consultation between ARN and telecom operators and quality check by PIU and WB before the values can be entered (retroactively) in ISR. The WB team is working with the PIU to fully resolve this persistent issue and is directly involved in the data collection and calculation. Intermediate Results Indicators by Components Enabling environment for improved connectivity IN00974157 ►Impact on Telecom sector of World Bank Technical Assistance (composite score: 1- low impact to 5-high impact) (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 0.00 3.00 Date 31-Dec-2016 31-Dec-2018 29-Apr-2021 31-May-2022 Information is not yet available. Comments: Supporting Connectivity IN00974156 ►Retail Price of Internet Services (per Mbit/s per Month, in US$) (Amount(USD), Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 736.00 61.00 0.00 206.00 Date 31-Dec-2016 31-Dec-2018 29-Apr-2021 31-May-2022 Project was declared effective on May 2018. Indicators were populated for December 2018 but then head of ARN changed and since then telecom regulator is more involved in local politics than telecom regulation. This resulted in the inability of the ARN to populate the projects indicators. Following efforts made by the PIU, ARN has re-started in FY21 to share project indicator values (in Comments: coordination with telecom operators). However values received so far are partial and not accurate calling for more consultation between ARN and telcos before accurate values can be entered (retroactively) in ISR. The value for this indicator was not filled in the report shared by ARN. IN00974158 ►number of operators and ISPs buying capacity from the infrastructure deployed (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 0.00 3.00 Date 31-Dec-2016 31-Dec-2019 29-Apr-2021 31-May-2022 5/3/2021 Page 5 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report West Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Project - SOP3 (P155876) infrastructure is not yet built. Comments: IN00974159 ►Number of cross border interconnection built (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 1.00 1.00 2.00 Date 31-Dec-2016 31-Dec-2019 29-Apr-2021 31-May-2022 The ACE submarine cable landed in Suro but is not yet operational. The second cross border interconnection point will be built once the submarine cable landing station (built Comments: at 98%) will be interconnected with the OMVG entry point. Performance-Based Conditions Data on Financial Performance Disbursements (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Currency Original Revised Cancelled Disbursed Undisbursed % Disbursed P155876 IDA-59970 Effective USD 35.00 35.00 0.00 30.86 5.54 85% Key Dates (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Approval Date Signing Date Effectiveness Date Orig. Closing Date Rev. Closing Date P155876 IDA-59970 Effective 24-Mar-2017 23-May-2017 29-May-2018 31-May-2022 31-May-2022 Cumulative Disbursements 5/3/2021 Page 6 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report West Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Project - SOP3 (P155876) PBC Disbursement Achievement Disbursed amount in Disbursement % PBC ID PBC Type Description Coc PBC Amount Status Coc for PBC Restructuring History There has been no restructuring to date. Related Project(s) There are no related projects. 5/3/2021 Page 7 of 7