Tech in Africa
Cameroon has identified ICT as a critical pillar of its vision 2035 long-term development plan. In a speech made ahead of the National Youth day, Minette Libom Li Likeng, the country’s Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, described the number of internet and mobile users as “non-negotiable.”
The minister described Cameroon’s journey as a ‘path of digital transition’ as more government departments materialize their operations. The Digital 2021: Cameroon report by Hootsuite and We Are Social reveals as of January 2021 there are 9.15 million internet users in Cameroon, a 16% increase.
During that same period, internet penetration was at 34% while mobile connections between January 2020 and 2021 increased by 2.6 million to 26.6 million – this is in effect 26.88 million of the country’s population is connected. The study attributes the rise in internet connectivity to the availability of mobile network infrastructure, affordable devices, and services, and consumer readiness to content ad services.
Prepaid connections stood at 98.2% while post-paid connections comprised the rest. 4.3 million people are active social media users of whom 98.3% use their mobile phones.
