The Mauritanian government officially inaugurated a new Internet Exchange Point (IXP) at the headquarters of International Mauritania Telecom (IMT), marking a significant step in strengthening the country’s digital sovereignty. This initiative follows the recent opening of a data centre in Nouakchott and aims to enhance national digital infrastructure.
The new IXP is designed to localize and secure data traffic, improve internet speed, reduce costs, and bolster information security — key components of Mauritania’s ‘National Digital Transformation Agenda 2022-2025.’ The government’s broader goal is to leverage digital technology for socioeconomic development and to digitize administrative services.
In addition to the IXP, Mauritania is working to connect to a new submarine fibre optic cable to supplement the existing ACE cable, which has experienced outages affecting nationwide internet access. The country previously launched the “RIMIX” internet exchange point in 2016 to improve connectivity.
Despite these efforts, the United Nations rated Mauritania’s telecom infrastructure development at 0.5824 out of 1 in 2024. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) ranked Mauritania 21st among 47 African nations with a score of 55.5, noting that in 2022, 43.9% of the population had 3G coverage and 34.7% had 4G. In 2023, internet penetration reached 37.4%, and mobile phone penetration was at 79.1%.
