Internet access: a challenge for landlocked African countries
August 20th 2025
Africa is accelerating its digital transformation thanks to the rise of the internet. Governments are investing, startups are multiplying, and populations are increasingly adopting online services. But this revolution rests on an invisible foundation: quality international connectivity.
On June 18, 2025, Chad and Niger began discussions toward fiber optic interconnection as part of the Trans-Saharan Fiber Optic Backbone (TSR) project. For these two landlocked countries, this initiative is part of a broader strategy to overcome their digital isolation by connecting to submarine cables via neighboring coastal states. Like them, 14 other African countries face the constraints of geographical isolation, which limit their direct access to international connectivity.
The SDR aims to interconnect six countries, three of which have direct access to submarine cables. Algeria is connected to six cables, with two new landing sites expected by 2026. Nigeria, West Africa’s largest connectivity hub, has eight, while Mauritania has one, with a second planned for 2028. Chad, for its part, currently relies solely on its connection with Cameroon. A second connection existed with Sudan, but it is no longer operational due to the security instability there.
Why submarine cables are essential to global connectivity
Undersea cables form the invisible but vital backbone of the global internet. Buried deep in the oceans, these fiber optic cables now carry over 95% of international data traffic, far ahead of satellites. They carry billions of communications, videos, financial transactions, and cloud data every day, at very high speeds and at much lower costs.
These infrastructures offer abundant bandwidth, low latency—i.e., minimal response time between sending and receiving data—and high reliability. For telecom operators, content providers (such as Google, Meta, or Netflix), and governments, these cables represent a strategic lever for lowering connectivity costs, attracting digital investments, expanding data centers, and stimulating innovation.
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In Africa, their deployment has accelerated over the past two decades. Systems such as SAT-3, WACS, ACE, EASSy, and more recently 2Africa and Equiano, aim to strengthen the continent’s access to international bandwidth. These cables land in coastal countries, often in multiple locations, allowing them to diversify their supply sources, negotiate better capacity purchase prices, and ensure greater network resilience.
How landlocked countries gain international connectivity
Deprived of direct access to these cables, landlocked countries must rely on the networks of their coastal neighbors. This requires the construction of cross-border fiber optic corridors, accompanied by interconnection agreements between national or private operators. Large-scale projects such as the DTS or the Central African Backbone (CAB) aim to establish these regional connections.
Some private groups such as Bayobab (MTN’s infrastructure subsidiary), Paratus, WIOCC, and Liquid Intelligent Technologies also operate regional fiber networks to facilitate international transit. Furthermore, digital integration programs led by the World Bank, such as WARDIP in West Africa and EARDIP in East Africa, support countries in establishing a single digital market, particularly through regional connectivity.
At the national level, efforts are also underway. In May 2024, at the 22nd African Regulators Network seminar in Abidjan, Chad presented a series of initiatives to strengthen its digital infrastructure. These include bilateral and multilateral agreements aimed at establishing redundancy links with Libya, Algeria, and Nigeria—two countries also covered by the SDR.
Chad also began discussions in December 2024 with Egypt, which has exceptional connectivity, with around fifteen submarine cables and seven more planned by 2027. “The proposed connection with Egypt offers Chad another avenue for digital access. As the country is landlocked, this project will strengthen and make Chad a hub for digital interconnection in Africa,” the Chadian Ministry of Posts and Digital Economy stated at the time.
Other landlocked countries are following similar paths. In July 2024, Mali signed an agreement with Guinea, which is connected to the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) cable. “The interconnection of optical fibers between Guinea and Mali will not only reduce connection costs, but also secure international communications, thus creating a more resilient and redundant network ,” explained the Guinean Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.
Access to capacity, however, can be limited by several challenges
“Landlocked countries or those with limited terrestrial infrastructure may benefit less due to higher transit costs imposed by intermediary nations. Geographic conditions, such as the presence of natural barriers and the remoteness of submarine cable landing sites, can affect the efficiency of data routing and the overall benefits of increased bandwidth ,” explains FERDI (Foundation for Studies and Research on International Development).
The World Bank, for its part, specifies that the capacity of submarine cables accessible to a landlocked country depends on the available cross-border land links, as well as the capacity of submarine cables in neighboring countries, particularly those with access to the sea.
Furthermore, these countries are vulnerable to difficulties encountered by their capacity providers, particularly on transmission networks. For example, the war in Sudan led to recurring outages, before the connection with Chad was finally interrupted. In Cameroon, tensions on the backbones managed by Camtel regularly cause network disruptions, sometimes prolonged.
What are the alternatives?
Faced with these challenges, landlocked countries are exploring several avenues to diversify their connectivity sources and strengthen the resilience of their networks. The first alternative is satellite, which is making a strong comeback with the emergence of new low-Earth orbit constellations. Operators such as Starlink, Eutelsat Konnect, OneWeb, and SES offer high-speed services without relying on terrestrial infrastructure.
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In Zimbabwe, the government is considering partnerships with several satellite internet providers to expand services in the country and reduce costs. “We are a landlocked country, so simply routing data from its origin already incurs costs. What we can do is look at other innovative ways. If that means we have to use satellite companies, it can’t just be one company, namely Starlink,” said Tatenda Mavetera, Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services.
Other solutions involve strengthening the network with Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) and local data centers. These allow digital content to be stored and delivered directly on-site, reducing reliance on international connections. By localizing traffic, they improve quality of service, reduce latency, and help lower costs.
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