African Coast to Europe (ACE) cable in Monrovia and the establishment of the Cable Consortium of Liberia (CCL) to operate it. This resulted in substantial declines in the cost of international bandwidth10. 3.4 Interconnectivity International International fiber connectivity is solely provided through the ACE submarine fiber landing station in Monrovia. An alternative connection to other submarine cables is required to provide greater reliability and so an additional terrestrial route to Cote d’Ivoire, where many different submarine cables land, is being planned by GOL as part of the first phase of the domestic backbone deployment. In addition it is expected that the domestic backbone when it is ultimately complete, will also provide crossborder fiber links with Liberia’s other neighbors - Guinea and Sierra Leone. Furthermore the planned regional high tension electricity grid, CLSG, will provide additional routes to Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Senegal and Sierra Leone, with onward connectivity to the rest of the region by the end of 2018. Domestic Fiber Backbones Deployment of a national backbone is a top priority, necessary to ensure inclusion of the whole country in access to affordable internet services. There are currently no national terrestrial fiber backbone or metropolitan fibre network presently operating in Liberia, although some mobile operators have built their own microwave links across the country. A metro fiber network covering the capital, Monrovia, is now in the late stages of deployment, in collaboration with Google’s Project Link by CSquared11. As indicated above, a national fiber backbone is planned in the near future which will be deployed in phases. The first phase will link Monrovia to towns along the route to Cote d’Ivoire, where it will connect with backbones linking to Abidjan in order to provide security for international links. Subsequent phases will connect the remaining districts. In addition the CLSG high tension regional power grid that is currently being built, is expected to provide part of the needed terrestrial domestic network as well as additional cross-border links. A detailed costing and feasibility study12 for the 2,366km national fiber optic backbone has been completed, and the means for financing the deployment of the backbone are being investigated, as well as potential institutional models for its operation. Local Interconnection The planned metropolitan area fiber network now being deployed by C-Squared will increase broadband speeds and accessibility in Monrovia. In addition the Liberia Internet Exchange Point (IXP) is now in place, is anticipated to reduce latency, improve performance, decrease the cost of network operations and provides support for additional services. 3.5 Broadcasting Currently there is one public and 8 private TV stations, and about 100 radio stations across Liberia13. A Broadcasting Regulatory Bill is currently at its final stages at the Senate14. Public consultations have been concluded with a view to establishing a separate broadcasting regulatory authority falling under the Ministry of Information, Tourism and Culture. The new authority will regulate content, while broadcast frequency allocation will be done by the LTA 22