Story, Louvier Kindo Tombe
The discussions on how digital economy can boost sub regional integration took place on Monday, April 29, 2024 in Yaounde. It was during the CAMTEL Diplomacy and Sub-Regional Integration Day organized within the framework of the 25 anniversary celebration of the telcom company.
Speaking at the opening, CAMTEL General Manager, Judith Yah Sunday Epse Achidi, said “through this CAMTEL Diplomacy and Sub-Regional Integration Day, we mainly expect that viable opportunities for the promotion of sub-regional integration through the digital economy will be identified, and that avenues for addressing the challenges linked to the coordination of the development of shared digital infrastructure in the CEMAC zone will be outlined”.
Digital interconnection is emerging as a major project to strengthen economic integration in the CEMAC zone especially in this era of globalized trade and rapid data transfer and processing.
“Our vision is to make CAMTEL a hub of Digital transformation in the sub region, so it was important for us on this day, to call on all the actors in the sector so that we can exchange avenues and ways to make this possible and see how far we have gone already in realizing the project,” Judith Yah Sunday said.
Present at the event was the resident representative of the CEMAC Commission for Cameroon, Pierre-Guillaume BOUM BISSAI who hailed the initiative to associate the CEMAC Commission in the discussion.
“For us it is of course a moment to reflect on what we have been able to do in different domains of integration but especially in the domain of telecommunications and digital transformation,” Pierre-Guillaume BOUM BISSAI told reporters.
“We have a few projects in CEMAC in that regards, such as the interconnection of the various countries to the optic fibre network, and the establishment of a free communication zone.”
“CAMTEL is one of the leading companies in the sub-region in that domain so for us it was a privilege to be part of this discussion,” he added.
Digital strength in CEMAC
In recent years, digital interconnection has developed in the sub-region, notably through the deployment of optical fibre and the development of the digital economy.
This includes the interconnection, since July 2021, of the electronic communications networks of Cameroon and Gabon through the laying of a 96-strand G652 optical fibre cable, which runs underground from Kye-Ossi in Cameroon to Bitam in Gabon, over a distance of 22 km, with significant benefits for the economies of both countries.
In the same vein, Congo, Cameroon and the Central African Republic have been developing optical fibre interconnection between the countries through the Central African Backbone (CAB) Project since May 2022.
“Our countries are brimming with potentials that could definitively reduce the digital divide in our community and boost sustainable development through telecommunications,” says Judith Yah Sunday.
CAMTEL’s strength
The General Manager of CAMTEL, Judith Yah Sunday Epse Achidi, seized the opportunity at the event to remind the public of CAMTEL’s interconnection, access, and transport infrastructure-sharing catalogue, which includes international supply via 4 (four) submarine cable exits and 3 (three) landing stations.
The said submarine cables include: (i) the WACS cable at Batoke (Limbe), which links Cameroon to several countries on the West African coast and to the European continent; (ii) the SAT3 cable, with a landing point in Douala, which offers an alternative exit to Europe and Asia via South Africa; (iii) the NCSCS cable in Kribi, which links Cameroon to Nigeria; and (iv) the SAIL cable, which links Kribi to Fortaleza in Brazil and makes it possible to interconnect Africa and the Americas.
