Chad looks to western neighbors for internet access after protracted blackout

 

FILE – A man searches the internet in New Bonako village, Cameroon, March 28, 2017. After an internet blackout in Chad in October 2024, caused by broken cables in Cameroon, Chad has intensified efforts to connect to a regional fiber-optic network.

Yaounde —

Officials in Chad are stepping up efforts to connect the central African state to a regional fiber-optic network after cable breakages caused by flooding in neighboring Cameroon caused a protracted internet blackout.

Authorities in the country have been unable to reestablish internet connections since the blackout began 10 days ago.

The central African state lost internet access when fiber-optic cables in Cameroon, the southern neighbor via which landlocked Chad is digitally networked, saw cables washed out by flooding.

Chadian officials told VOA on Friday that European Union and African Development Bank officials this week agreed to intensify efforts to get Chad hooked up to the trans-Saharan fiber-optic network via Niger, Cameroon’s neighbor to the west.

Brahim Abdelkerim, secretary general of Chad\’s ministry of telecommunications, said that by February 2025, there will no longer be frustrations as a result of regular internet disruptions that paralyze businesses in Chad. He said Chad and Niger governments have made firm commitments to supervise the project to completion.

Speaking with VOA Friday by messaging app from Chad\’s capital, N\’djamena, Abdelkerim said Chad will lay some 500 kilometers of cable from N\’djamena to the Niger border.

The ADB said the EU will give 31.4 million dollars and the ADB will provide the other 55 million needed to complete the project.

Chad was already projected to be a part of the trans-Saharan fiber-optic network, more than 1,500 kilometers long, that will eventually stretch through Chad, Algeria, Niger and Nigeria.

The four countries say the project will create jobs and opportunities to generate income and reduce chronic rural poverty, especially among youths.

Sona Jarosova, head of the EU political mission to Chad, said Friday on Chad state TV that connecting Chad to the Trans-Saharan fiber-optic network will reduce or stop regular blackouts caused by disruptions in Cameroon, which is the only country that connects landlocked Chad to the internet. She said the alternative connection will remove Chad from its present digital isolation.

Jarosova said improved internet development will support the economy by improving infrastructure, trade and connectivity between North, West and Central Africa, and eventually the entire African continent.

The International Telecommunications Union reports that the internet penetration rate in Africa was less than 40% in 2023, with sub-Saharan Africa — where Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon are located — suffering regular internet blackouts due to old equipment and electricity outages.

 

By：VOA