Yas Fibre and ZICTIA Sign $114.5M Zanzibar Broadband Deal

In Short

• Yas Fibre and Zanzibar’s ICT infrastructure agency, ZICTIA, signed a 20-year deal to expand broadband in Zanzibar.
• The agreement is valued at about TZS 300 billion, around $114.5 million.
• The project targets 100,000 household connections in the first three years.

What Happened

Yas Fibre and ZICTIA have agreed to expand broadband infrastructure in Zanzibar. The partnership focuses on fibre optic rollout, meaning internet delivered through glass cables that carry data using light, which is typically faster and more reliable than older copper networks.

The deal is structured as a phased rollout over 20 years. In the first phase, the partners expect to connect about 100,000 households to high-speed internet within three years.

The investment aims to extend reliable and affordable connectivity across the two largest islands, Unguja and Pemba. ZICTIA said the expanded fibre network will also serve businesses and public institutions.

Why It Matters

For startups and SMEs, better fixed broadband can mean more stable online tools, clearer voice and video calls, and smoother cloud app use. It can also improve last-mile performance for services that depend on constant connectivity, like digital payments, logistics tracking, and online education.

ZICTIA also linked the fibre expansion to broader digital transformation goals. These include e-government services, which are public services delivered online, plus digital learning and health systems that rely on dependable networks.

The agreement also fits a wider push across Africa to build more fibre routes and strengthen regional internet capacity. More fibre usually lowers the cost per gigabyte over time and improves redundancy, which helps keep networks online when a link fails.

Within the Liners directory, telecom operators like Yas sit at the centre of this trend, as they fund and operate the networks that other software and digital services depend on.