Sahara

The Sahara spans about 9 million square kilometers (3.6 million square miles) across North Africa and covers ten countries: Algeria, Mali, Niger, Chad, Libya, Sudan, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. A Trans-Saharan Fiber Backbone is under development to connect Algeria, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Tunisia along the Trans-Saharan Highway, tying inland towns to multiple submarine cable gateways, with Chad’s 559 km link from N’Djamena toward the Niger border nearly finished by late 2024. Chad obtained its first international fiber link in 2012 and today still has no nationwide fiber backbone connecting its towns. Only about 10–12% of Chadians have