Cameroon has signed a MoU with Central African Republic (CAR) that will see the two countries’ communications networks interconnected by terrestrial fibre optic infrastructure by the start of 2023.
The MoU was signed by Cameroon’s Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Minette Libom Li Likeng and CAR’s Minister of Digital Economy, Posts and Telecommunications Justin Gourna Zacko. The ministers noted that the agreement underlined the desire for increased digital integration between the member states of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).
ITWeb Africa reports that the MoU covers physical and logical interconnection between the networks, factoring in restoration channels for security and cost reduction as well as detailing the capacity coordination required for traffic routing between networks.
Cameroon has formed similar agreements with Chad, Congo and Gabon, with Minister Li Likeng stating that the country aimed to establish itself as Central Africa’s digital hub, as it is already connected to several subsea cables, including SAT3, WACS, ACE, NCSCS and SAIL.
Minister Zacko noted that CAR would aim to leverage Cameroon’s digital infrastructure. The MoU is part of the wider Central African Backbone (CAB) initiative, which seeks to provide terrestrial fibre connectivity between participating countries.
“Soon, specific agreements will be signed between the government of Cameroon through Camtel and the government of CAR through the infrastructure management company”, said Minister Zacko. “I hope that before the closing date of our two CAB projects scheduled respectively for June 30, 2022 for Cameroon and December 31, 2022 for CAR, we will have benefited from this noble cooperation.”
