China-powered ICT infrastructure: lessons from Tanzania and Cambodia

The document examines China's Digital Silk Road (DSR) strategy and its implementation through ICT projects in Tanzania and Cambodia. It finds that while environmental impacts are generally limited, socioeconomic outcomes are mixed and transparency remains a significant deficiency across projects.

• China's Digital Silk Road (DSR), a pillar of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), aims to promote global ICT interconnection through cross-border optical cables and communications networks, prioritising e-commerce and investment-driven trade.
• Chinese ICT infrastructure projects in Tanzania and Cambodia generally resulted in limited environmental impacts, though they were characterised by a lack of transparency regarding financing, procurement, and employment.
• In Cambodia, the $69.7 million AAE-1 submarine fibre optic cable project, implemented by CFOCN (a branch of HyalRoute Group), aimed to reduce Cambodia's network dependence on Vietnam and provide cost-efficient high-speed internet.
• Tanzania's National ICT broadband fibreoptic backbone (NICTBB), financed by approximately $264 million in loans from China Exim Bank, successfully increased broadband connectivity and fostered e-education and e-government.
• The NICTBB project in Tanzania showed mixed socioeconomic results: while it created over 9,000 local jobs, local firms were restricted to the lower end of the technology value chain and inadequate capacity building led to poor local operation and management.
• The Tanzanian government's ability to recoup costs for the NICTBB has been hindered by infrastructure underutilisation caused by high tariffs, poor after-sales support, and unfavourable policies.
• There are distinct patterns in China's ICT engagement: African projects are typically government-to-government initiatives backed by concessional loans, whereas Southeast Asian projects involve more private firms, market bidding, and non-concessional loans.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2021). China-powered ICT infrastructure: lessons from Tanzania and Cambodia. https://saiia.org.za/research/china-powered-ict-infrastructure-lessons-from-tanzania-and-cambodia/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. China-powered ICT infrastructure: lessons from Tanzania and Cambodia. 2021. https://saiia.org.za/research/china-powered-ict-infrastructure-lessons-from-tanzania-and-cambodia/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=China-powered ICT infrastructure: lessons from Tanzania and Cambodia |date=15 December 2021 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/china-powered-ict-infrastructure-lessons-from-tanzania-and-cambodia/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2021chinapowered, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{China-powered ICT infrastructure: lessons from Tanzania and Cambodia}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2021}, month = dec, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/china-powered-ict-infrastructure-lessons-from-tanzania-and-cambodia/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }