Frederic TCHEULEU

Il est mort pour le Cameroun. Rendons-lui l’hommage qu’il mérite. Soyons nombreux à accompagner Anicet Ekane dans cette dernière marche. Patriote jusqu’au bout. Patriote jusqu’à la mort. ✊🏽 #FreeCameroon 🇨🇲

What is sad in this whole @Starlink debate is that in most places where it is approved, it's not the best and least expensive solution, especially not for businesses. When it rains hard, the service is severely impacted. It's used primarily for remote locations that don't have access to proper fibre or 4G/5G. But in places like Cameroon where internet service is mediocre at best, Starlink emerges as this incredible savior! People experienced internet as it's supposed to be for the first time! While I hope that the 🇨🇲 government will approve Starlink, at least provisionally. The real solution is in improving our fibre capacity. We have the technology, let's use it! #UnleashOurInternet

Long post on internet in Cameroon, following the Starlink announcement. Fibre remains the best internet solution by far. It's the fastest, the most reliable, and the least expensive. The problem we have in Cameroon is that although we have amazing infrastructure into the country with several very high capacity undersea cables that land at our borders, we purchase too little capacity to meet the demand in the country. So we end up using less than 15% of what is available. The second problem is that fiber can't stop at the landing sites. We need to deploy the fiber throughout the country. This is a big investment and it will take time. The main impediment to progress is Camtel. They control the capacity that is purchased, they resell to MTN and Orange at outrageous rates, and they also control the deployment of fiber within the country. This situation is untenable. The first step, and this can happen OVERNIGHT, is for Camtel to purchase more capacity for the undersea cables. Even if government must subsidize for a few months, the value to the economy will more than cover these costs. The capacity needs to be increased by 10 or 20 times at a minimum. We can always resell excess capacity to neighboring countries. You can feel the capacity problems when your connection drops. Too many people trying to access the same very limited data. It's like with Eneo that has to shut down power to some users to give access to others. Internet works the same way except it can be increased very easily. Second, and this can also happen OVERNIGHT, the pricing to the other telcos must be reviewed and lowered. Since the telcos are forced to buy from Camtel and can't negotiate their own terms for undersea cable access, it is important that they get reasonable pricing from Camtel despite the monopoly, and that they pass on those savings to the consumer. In the longer term, the government will need to break the Camtel monopoly. Reliable, inexpensive, available internet is a necessity, not a luxury. I am also tired of hearing the security argument. If government had any concern for consumer safety with independent internet providers, they would ban bars, alcohol, cigarettes, betting, and many other products that have a more deleterious effect on consumers. The truth is that they don't care about consumers. The only security the government is concerned with is theirs. They want to continue to have full control over the internet and disconnect at will, as they did in 2017 in the North West and South West for a full 93 days. Their problem with Starlink is that the simplicity, the reliability, the low cost of the solution only highlights the incompetence of those in charge of our internet access. Rather than embracing the Starlink, approving it so that they can collect taxes on it, get internet access into remote areas of the country where fiber or mobile access is impossible, they ban it. There are solutions. There are fast solutions. These are political and not technical problems. Let them unleash our internet, and see the resulting economic growth that will ensue. #UnleashOurInternet