Three-Year Business Development Plan (Niger)

INTRODUCTION

A business development plan for the Niger case involves two principal operations: a satellite earth station for the international link to the Internet, and a "hub" to provide Internet access to end users. Hence a plan should properly account for services to be delivered by whatever organization or organizations manage these two facilities.

Although there is no small amount of confusion about this issue in Niger, two organizational configurations are presently being considered. Under one configuration, a private-sector firm would administer both the earth station and hub in a facility provided by AGRHYMET. In the other, the private-sector firm would administer only the hub, while the national telecommunications company, STIN, would manage the earth station, with both operations undertaken in AGRHYMET facilities. This business development plan therefore reflects these two possibilities.

This report was submitted in draft form to staff at USAID/IRM/CIS. Based on their comments, greater detail was provided in the descriptions of scenarios for the income statements in the section below entitled "Access Pricing Strategy and Three-Year Income Statements". Staff also asked that additional scenarios be treated. These requests are incorporated. Note that for logistical reasons, it was not possible for Mr. Idrissa to review late revisions to the text.