Access To Internet Service: Unsatisfactory Supply, Poor Connectivity In SW

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Access To Internet Service: Unsatisfactory Supply, Poor Connectivity In SW

Affordable and reliable internet connectivity in the South West Region is an enormous challenge to m

18 sept. 2023 14:07

I CTs are great importance in today’s society and has permeated different aspects of human life. There exists, however a gap between individuals and populations who have access to these technologies and those who do not, which has led to social as well as digital exclusion. In this regard, digital inclusion through ICTs becomes a strategy to close technical gaps. In the South West Region in general and in Buea its regional capital in particular, internet accessibility is transforming the lives of its residents with the availability of internet enabled devices. This has opened up the world of opportunities for inhabitants from educational and business ventures. As the city is home to large student population, the internet is used for a variety of activities including online banking, social media and much more. With all of these, some of the pertinent challenges in the region is the lack of reliable and affordable internet access. Many Buea inhabitants lamented to Cameroon Business Today on the lack of connectivity in several areas which tends to hinder their businesses. Funwi Glenn Fritz, a Software Engineer at Silicon Mountain said the internet is the backbone of everything they do. As they work with clients online, share updates, use e-libraries and make payments. ‘‘Without good internet connection, there is no way we can say we have made progress because the clients need to see that what we are doing is actually functioning. If they have to integrate into a platform that deals with payment, they cannot work without internet since we have to contact these payment providers for them to contact their servers’’. That notwithstanding, Funwi Glenn maintained that, they use a variety of networks like MTN, CAMTEL and ORANGE for internet accessibility. In case where one fails they quickly switch to the next. ‘&ls...