Cameroon Telecommunications (CAMTEL) has signed two framework agreements with the Ministry of Secondary Education (MINESEC) and the Société Immobilière du Cameroun (SIC) to expand digital connectivity in schools and housing estates.
The agreements, signed in Yaoundé on Wednesday, October 7, are intended to bring digital infrastructure closer to students, teachers and households while making connectivity an integral part of future housing developments.
The CAMTEL-MINESEC agreement focuses on the digital transformation of secondary education, following a request by the ministry to interconnect 130 secondary schools in the Adamawa, Far North and North regions.
CAMTEL Director General Judith Yah Sunday said the partnership would put the company’s network infrastructure at the service of practical educational needs.
“A teacher should be able to access the resources needed for their lessons. A student should be able to deepen their knowledge and benefit from the opportunities offered by distance learning,” she said at the signing ceremony at the MINESEC Distance Learning Centre in Yaoundé.
CAMTEL plans to contribute 50 per cent of the cost of the works required to connect the targeted schools. The contribution is specifically intended to support the connection works and does not cover all digital-related expenses of the beneficiary institutions.
The agreement will involve optical fibre, network infrastructure and digital services to support teaching, learning and school administration. CAMTEL said implementation would be undertaken jointly with MINESEC, taking into account the technical realities of each site.
The company also stressed that connectivity would only be meaningful if the services remained reliable and were properly maintained and used. Beyond the schools, the infrastructure could, where technical and commercial conditions permit, help extend connectivity to administrations, businesses and surrounding communities.
The second agreement, between CAMTEL and SIC, seeks to expand fibre-optic connectivity in housing estates and ensure that digital infrastructure is considered from the design stage of future construction projects.
The partnership covers SIC’s housing stock of about 12,000 units, although the rollout will be gradual and based on technical assessments and priorities agreed by the two institutions.
For existing buildings, fibre installation will take account of building layouts, available cable pathways and network entry points. Future housing projects, meanwhile, will incorporate cable routes, conduits and dedicated spaces for telecommunications equipment from the outset.
The agreement also proposes preferential connectivity conditions for residents of eligible SIC housing, with a connection fee of FCFA25,000, inclusive of tax, and a monthly subscription of FCFA15,000. The final terms of implementation are still being worked out by CAMTEL and SIC.
SIC Director General Dr Ahmadou Sardaouna said connectivity had become an important part of modern urban development, particularly for education and research.
Beyond providing household internet services, SIC will use CAMTEL’s data centre facilities and high-speed enterprise networks to connect its regional offices and administrative sites. The upgrade is expected to improve internal communication, administrative efficiency and help address longstanding accounting backlogs.
The two agreements form part of CAMTEL’s wider effort to extend the benefits of digital connectivity to everyday life, from classrooms and schools to homes and workplaces.
The company said the success of the partnerships would ultimately be measured by the number of schools and homes effectively connected, the reliability of the services and the extent to which users benefit from them.
