Cameroon Beats African Internet Average Despite Broadband Gap

Related Articles

Présidentielle au Cameroun: vent de critiques dans deux partis du Nord sur leur alliance avec Paul Biya | + audio

June 16, 2025

Bryan Mbeumo Embraces Transfer Speculation Amid Interest from Manchester United and Tottenham

June 16, 2025

Le Cameroun Parmi les 36 Pays Ciblés par une Extension Potentielle de l’Interdiction de Voyage des États-Unis

June 15, 2025

Business in Cameroon | Over 40% of Cameroon’s population used the internet individually in 2023, excluding business and collective entity connections. This figure, highlighted in the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) April 2025 report, “State of digital development and trends in the Africa region: Challenges and opportunities,” places Cameroon above the sub-Saharan African continental average, which remains below 40%.

Despite this progress, Cameroon ranks 16th out of 44 African countries in the ITU study. It significantly trails nations like Seychelles and Botswana, where individual internet access reached at least 80% of the population during the same period. Within the CEMAC region—comprising Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, and the Central African Republic—Cameroon, despite being the economic powerhouse, is behind Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. These two countries, with a combined population under three million, recorded individual internet penetration rates of 60% to 75%.

Cameroon’s relatively robust internet usage stems from two key factors: the expansion of fiber-optic infrastructure and the widespread adoption of smartphones. By the end of 2023, 15,000 km of fiber optic cable had been deployed, with an additional 3,500 km planned for 2024. Furthermore, smartphone penetration, which facilitates mobile internet access, surged from 25% in 2016 to nearly 40% in 2020, a 15-point increase in four years, according to the National Telecommunications Observatory of the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ART).

However, Cameroon still lags in broadband internet, which telecom experts consider a more impactful driver of development. The ITU report notes that Cameroon is among the bottom ten African countries for mobile broadband subscriptions, with approximately 30 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, significantly below the African average of 52.

In contrast, Cameroon performs better in fixed broadband, recording over two subscriptions per 100 people. This rate surpasses the African average for fixed broadband in 2023, which was below one subscription per 100 inhabitants, positioning Cameroon as a relative leader in this generally underdeveloped segment.