Cameroon targets 25,000 km of fibre optic cable to increase Internet access

 

"Over the next few years, the government's ambition is to generalise broadband access for citizens, businesses and households, notably by continuing to extend the national backbone to increase the 20,000 km to 25,000 km of linear . This is how the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Minette Libom Li LMikeng, expressed herself on 27 October 2020 in the Cameroonian capital.

This member of the Cameroonian government, who was then presiding over the official ceremony for the commissioning of the first two Internet access points (Yaounde and Douala) in the country, said that in addition to expanding its fiber optic network in this way, Cameroon also aims to build "urban optical loops in all departmental capitals of Cameroon.

All these announced investments, she added, will "increase the rate of broadband Internet penetration in households, improve the quality of service in electronic communications, and promote the development of an ICT industry in Cameroon.

As a reminder, thanks to major investments made by both government and telecom operators, the Internet penetration rate in Cameroon has exploded over the past 10 years. While it peaked at about 2% a decade ago, it reached 30% in January 2020, according to a report published by Hootsuite and We Are Social, two organizations with platforms for monitoring flows on social networks and the Internet.

In 2016, according to Internet Live Stats, Cameroon (+16.5) was already one of the three African countries with the highest increase in internet penetration in a single year, along with Mali (+18.6%) and Lesotho (+18.1%).

Source: Investiraucameroon