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Cameroon bets on Huawei help to realise tech hub ambitions

By , Freelance Investigative Journalist
Cameroon , 09 Jun 2022

Chinese multinational ICT and telecommunications solutions provider Huawei has reaffirmed its commitment to help Cameroon position itself as Central Africa’s digital hub.

President of Huawei Northern Africa Terry He confirmed the position following a meeting this week with Cameroon’s Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute.

He said Huawei will continue to support Cameroon’s digital economy ambitions and the country's broader economic plan to establish itself as an upper middle-income country by 2035.

The latest interaction is a follow-up to an ICT-focused alliance between Cameroon and China negotiated on the sidelines of the Sino-Africa Summit in September 2018.

He said, “We discussed about positioning Cameroon as the digital hub of CEMAC region and see how we can together boost the digital economy. Today (7 June 2022), we have come back to report to the Prime Minister a lot of interesting proposals and comprehensive plans.”

An example of the plans is that in 2021, 2,000 Cameroonians received ICT-related training through the Huawei ICT Academy.

Huawei’s meeting with Ngute was also used as an opportunity to test and demonstrate the Huawei IdeaHub, an intelligent system used for video conferencing, donated by Huawei to the government of Cameroon.

The technology is designed to serve as a productivity tool for the smart office and supports intelligent writing, HD video conferencing and wireless sharing.

To date, Huawei has been positioned as a technology infrastructure supplier to government’s digital infrastructure projects. It is also the principal partner of state-owned Cameroon Telecommunications (Camtel).

It built Camtel’s datacentre and has assisted in the deployment of the country’s lone fibre optic backbone.

The company also recently installed the country’s national surveillance system.

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