But he appointed Ishmael Kebbay (Jr) as Managing Director, who has fervently worked with his team to increase internet penetration to 15 percent, signaling that signs of positive transformation, under the ‘New Direction’ administration, are very clear.
Managing Director Kebbay said in an interview, on Thursday 25th April, 2019, that prudent and strategic management at SALCAB has resulted in cheaper and faster data transportation in the country.
“SALCAB’s new management and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Sorie Fofanah, have re-engineered the business model by introducing new products and services and which resulted in the churning down of 48% reduction in the cost of bandwidth. This is to enhance the increase in uptake of broadband by its clients with the sole aim of making internet facility in the country affordable and accessible by all,” Ishmael Kebbay said.
He noted that SALCAB, under its current management, has been transformed from a loss-making business of 3.8 billion Leones annually into a profit-oriented entity moving in the right direction.
“It has reduced overall business operating expense by 38% and increased revenue by 32% with 0.00% incident of fraud and revenue leakage. The activation of its physical point of presence has encouraged the entrance of a new mobile company in the ICT market- QCELL with the anticipation of more potential investors. The company is also set to increase the capacity of the country’s internet bandwidth from 80 GB to 190 GB before the end of 2020,” he said.
The SALCAB Managing Director stated that his institution is poised to supporting the ICT industry development with the creation of a data centre, where major interconnection points will be located.
He said SALCAB will be rolling out the school connectivity project as a way of supporting the free quality education initiative.
“This program is part of the company’s corporate social responsibilities (CSR) initiative to support free quality education by providing class connectivity to schools. This project is aiming to connect 1000 schools with access to online learning materials, and computer labs by 2023,” he said.
He disclosed that SALCAB will be launching its first edition of tech start-up challenge to boost innovation and promote entrepreneur skills, adding that it will collaborate with the office of Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) to roll out the implementation of this project.
He said President Bio’s vision is to make provision for every Sierra Leonean to have access to internet connectivity.
“There is an unconnected population, which is estimated at 1.7 Million, this will be closed through driving rural connectivity to enhance fibre infrastructure to be deployed in every provincial towns and district through its rural connectivity project,” he stated.
