Cameroon has identified ICT as a strategic priority as it executes its Vision 2035 long-term development plan.

Speaking ahead of the country’s National Youth Day on 11 February, the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Minette Libom Li Likeng said the number of internet and mobile users represents “non-negligible potential.”

The Minister said Cameroon is on the path of digital transition as more government departments are dematerialising their operations.

She added that users could become clients and boost the digital economy by stimulating economic activities which can generate value added services and create jobs.

A report Digital 2021: Cameroon, released by Hootsuite and We Are Social, shows that there were 9.15 million internet users as at January 2021, a 16% increase year-on-year.

Internet penetration stood at 34% during the same period, while the number of mobile connections between January 2020 and January 2021 also increased by 2.6 million to 26.6 million. By implication, 99% of the country’s 26.88 million people were connected.

The study suggests that the rise in mobile connectivity was largely driven by the availability of mobile network infrastructure, affordability of devices and services, consumer readiness as well as availability of relevant content and services.

Pre-paid connections as a percentage of all mobile connections stood at 98.2%, while the rest were post-paid connections. There was a 39.7% broadband connection use.

Some 4.3 million Cameroonians are said to be active on social media, 98.3% of whom access via mobile.

With regards to financial inclusion, while the rate stands at 34.6 % of the population aged 15 and above, over 4.06 million people are reported to have a mobile money account. About 1.5 million people make online purchases and/or pay bills online.

The International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) 2017 Global ICT Development Index ranks Cameroon in 149th place with a value of 2.38.