Eritrea’s Digital Desert: Inside the World’s Most Isolated Internet – and the Satellite Lifeline on the Horizon
Eritrea is notorious for its exceptionally limited internet connectivity – often likened to a “digital desert” or even called the “North Korea of Africa” in terms of information isolation. Despite being a coastal nation in the Horn of Africa, Eritrea has eschewed modern internet infrastructure and access for decades. Fewer than 1 in 4 Eritreans use the internet, and until very recently it was the only country on the continent without any public mobile data network mereja.forum. Those who do get online face sluggish speeds, exorbitant costs, and heavy government censorship. Meanwhile, new technologies like satellite internet offer a tantalizing hope of bridging the connectivity gap – but only if Eritrea’s authoritarian regime permits it. This report provides a comprehensive, up-to-date look at internet access in Eritrea, covering the infrastructure, availability to ordinary people, the regulatory and censorship environment, comparisons with neighboring countries, and how satellite broadband could upend the status quo.
