The Digital Desert Awakens: Inside Tunisia’s Expanding Internet Frontier
As of early 2024, about 9.96 million Tunisians were internet users, roughly 79.6% of the population. In January 2024, Tunisia had 16.73 million active mobile connections, equal to 133.7% of the population. 99.9% of the population is covered by mobile signals, with 4G reaching about 94.9% of inhabitants. Tunisie Telecom’s fiber backbone spans roughly 50,000 km, and late-2024 initiatives connected 2,900 homes in Tataouine (~7,000 users) via fiber at about $160,000. International bandwidth capacity grew from 82.5 Gbps in 2012 to about 1,710 Gbps in 2023. 5G licensing occurred in September 2024, initial licenses were granted in November 2024, and