Report: Dynamics of Internet Access in Cameroon.

As of February 2020, according to the online newspaper “Invest in Cameroon”, the internet
penetration rate in Cameroon is estimated at 30% “thanks to the arrival of 570,000 new
internet users”. This brought to 23.62 million Cameroonians connected with a smartphone
and 7.87 million Internet users in Cameroon out of a population estimated at 26.21 million inhabitants
according to a study conducted by the firm Hootsuite and We are social under the title “digital 2020”.
The said study also indicates that 3,700,000 Cameroonians are active on social networks with 3,500,000
on Facebook, making it the most used network in Cameroon with among users, 58.8% men and 41.2%
women.
However, this access is still not easy because of several parameters. These include the cost of
internet access. According to a study by Cable, data from 2019 and 2020 show that the cost of internet
has increased in Cameroon. As an illustration, in 2019, the cost of Gigabit in the African ranking was
US$1.71, Cameroon ranked 7th and in 2020 it was ranked 22nd with US$2.75 for the same amount of
bandwidth. In addition to this cost which is a barrier to access at interest, according to the UNDP report
of 2020, for the last 10 years, the average income of Cameroonians is below one dollar a day.
In addition to this aspect of cost, many citizens are hunted down by security forces on the net because of
their opinions. It is a question in this case of the Cameroonians of the diaspora, notably those gathered
within what is called “Brigarde Anti-Sardinard” in short BAS. Internally, several citizens questioned by the
police are sometimes heard about the content of their posts on social networks.

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