Tunisia’s digital sector is growing by leaps and bounds, according to Hatem Essoussi, Senior Director of the Advanced Technology Promotion Department at the Tunisian Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA).
With over 2,200 active companies and more than 40,000 direct jobs, this sector contributes 11% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), he told Agenzia Nova.
Over 600 of these companies are innovative, with an average annual growth rate of 8%. Moreover, 52% of these companies export their products and services.
The world’s fifth-largest exporter of engineers, Tunisia boasts more than 270 higher education establishments, training over 65,000 graduates every year, 1,200 of whom specialize in information and communication technologies. The country also boasts more than 370 vocational training establishments, offering over 20,000 specializations. With over 16,000 researchers, the country ranks among the leaders in research and innovation in Africa and the Arab world.
Tunisia is home to four specialized ICT technopoles, 19 innovative cyberparks and 10 strategic competitiveness clusters, which stimulate research, development and entrepreneurship. Among these clusters, Bizerte and Zarzis stand out in particular. The latter, located in the south of the country and covering 4,500 square meters, is a pillar of innovation in Tunisia and Africa.
“It is in Tunisia that AMPERE, a French electric vehicle specialist, and ACTIA, a major player in on-board electronic systems, have chosen to set up teams dedicated to the development of on-board systems and diagnostic software for new-generation electric vehicles”, emphasizes Hatem Essoussi. This partnership is in line with the Software Defined Vehicle concept, which places software at the heart of automotive design.
Tunisia’s technology ecosystem includes 17 scale-ups, placing the country among the top 10 in Africa for innovation.
With a bandwidth capacity of 910 gigabytes per second (Gb/s), Tunisia offers top-level connectivity. By 2025, the country will have 10.5 million Internet users, with a penetration rate of 84.9%.
Mobile connections reach 15.7 million, outstripping the total population (128%), and the average mobile download speed has increased by 9.2% compared to 2024, reaching 26.56 megabits per second (Mbps), while fixed download speed has risen by 26.1% (11.55 Mbps).
However, 1.86 million people remain offline, mainly in rural areas and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups. 15.1% of the population has no access to the Internet, with geographical and gender disparities. Despite the rollout of 5G, fixed broadband speeds remain low (11.55 Mbps), limiting advanced applications.
Sectors such as fintech, agritech and edtech are driving growth, with increased investment in R&D. The cybersecurity market is also booming, with revenues forecast to reach $42.5 million by 2025.
TunisianMonitorOnline (NejiMed)
