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For many years, the mobile telephone network has been in the hands of MTN, Orange and Nextell, while Camtel has been fighting to obtain an operating license that would enable her compete with the afformentioned telephone operators.
The General Manager of CAMTEL, Judith Yah Sunday in collaboration with the minister of Post and Telecommunications, MINPOSTEL, successfully striked a deal that gave CAMTEL the license to legally operate mobile network services, fixed network as well as the transport of local telephone materials.
All this is coming at a time the government of Cameroon is advocating the promotion of “Made in Cameroon” goods and services in order to foster the president’s mission in making Cameroon an emergent nation by the year 2035. Blue is entirely a made in Cameroon good which gives the country an upper hand in terms of boosting the economy as compared to the other competitors.
CAMTEL is today known for its exceptional services to Cameroonians as far as moblile network is concerned and most recently they have introduced a new network in the market “Blue” which has been welcomed and appreciated by many. It is undeniable that many Cameroonians are already tired of poor services from MTN, Orange and Nextel which is characterised by poor network, poor customer service, and even limited network coverage at national level.The coming of Blue by Camtel might bring solution to the afformentioned difficulties faced by telephone network users given that it seems to be the best in the markets do far.
This reporter after making a tour at one of Camtel’s regional branch at Akwa, Douala realised that the SIM cards are already been sold at FCFA 500 and can be found all over the national territory,unlike other network services, a CAMTEL staff disclosed. She equally said every citizen has to submit a photocopy of his/her ID card in colour, 4×4 picture, as well as a localisation plan before purchasing a SIM card. The SIM card with starts with the numbers 6200 comes with several internet benefits and excellent network services at cheaper rates, she affirmed. If these SIM cards are already sold even before the launch, that simply implies that the number will even tripple after the launch, because the marketing plan for the distribution and commercialisation of this SIM cards have already being well determined.
Cameroon Telecommunications like Camwater, Eneo and many others are those parastatal companies that many are looking up to. Meanwhile, the Blue network is exclusively a “Made in Cameroon” product unlike other network operators which if taken seriously will be a very good innovation that enhance economic growth.
Worthy of note is that, more than 20 million Cameroonians subscribe to mobile phones, and Camtel exclusively controls the commercialisation of mobile telephones and optical fibers, according to statistics presented by the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ART).
With the fiber optic backbone of a linear of more than 12 000 km extended throughout the national territory, its Datacenter based in Zamengoé, and its five submarine cables (SAT3, WACS, ACE, NCSCS and SAIL), CAMTEL is positioned as a benchmark and robust actor and reliable ICT in the subregion. Its robust and reliable infrastructure serves as a support for the implementation of the e-government project with the emergence of many innovative services (e-health, e-learning, e-banking, e-agriculture, etc.).
In accordance with its mission, CAMTEL provides appropriate solutions to the needs of both the administrations, and public and private enterprises, thanks to the highly qualified human resources available to it, and to a network of high quality.
The Cameroon Telecommunications (CAMTEL) was the first to launch a mobile network in Cameroon in 1998. The operator carried out its activities in the sector without an operating permit until 2003 when the state granted on November 14, 2003, a provisional concession agreement for fixed telephone networks and services, for a period of two years, renewable once.
This concession expired in 2007. Since then, Camtel had no longer benefited from a formal exploitation title to operate in a competitive environment where the demand of telephone services seems very high.
Listed by the State in the liquidation and rehabilitation portfolio for more than 20 years, Camtel suspended its investments when other operators entered the Cameroon market with huge investment aimed at conquering a greater market shares for notoriety. Characterised by mismanagement and embezzlement, lack of investment slowed the growth of this company significantly.
The liquidation process was later abandoned and given the delay experienced by Camtel compared to its main competitors (Orange, MTN and Nexttel), the legislator introduced in 2010 the law on electronic communications article 97, to enable Camtel benefit from operating permits for the exercise of activities forming part of its corporate purpose. This has been the case since March 12, 2020.
Since that date, three new concessions have been granted to the public telecom operator. They relate to « the establishment and operation of a mobile electronic communications network, with national coverage, open to the public, linked to 2G, 3G and 4G access technologies »; « The establishment and operation of a fixed electronic communications network with national coverage open to the public by wired access »; and « the establishment and operation of an electronic communications transport network, including submarine cable landing stations and teleports to satellite networks. »
Advantage on territory coverage
Results have proven that an increasing number of Cameroonians are subscribing to different social media platforms daily. According to the last report of « Hootsuite » and « We are social baptized Digital 2020 Cameroon », there are 7.87 million Cameroonian internet users, meanwhile, out of the 26.21 million inhabitants, 3.7 million are active users of social networks, which amount to about 30%.
There are four big telecommunications service providers in Cameroon – MTN, Orange, Viettel and the state-owned CAMTEL but the state-owned company claims that its network « covers approximately 65% of the Cameroonian population, or 55 out of 58 departments, including localities located on the main roads, university towns, seaside resorts, main towns, amongst others, contrary to the competitors whose networks are limited to certain areas. Notwitstanding, MTN remains the leading service provider, according to its report for the first quarter of 2019, with a total of 48% of the mobile market share or 8.7 million subscribers.
How to facilitate digital access in Cameroon
More than half of the population operate a mobile network in the country, be it MTN, Orange, Nextel, and after due assesment, one can conclude that majority of Cameroonains are of the lower or average class. In order to encourage users to have access to the digital platform, it will be advisable for these mobile operators to cut cost of internet data, and calls.
The Blue for instance charges roughly 25 FCFA for a minute call. Many more competitors are called to come up with initiatives towards remedying the network problems in the country. Camtel is struggling to implement its new mobile network at a moment Nextel and MTN are battling with poor connection services. Will this be a solution to the numerous problems plaguing the digital landscape in Cameroon?
In the 21st century, access to the digital platform still remains a major problem in Cameroon. Going by reports from the Cameroon’s Telecoms Regulatory Board, less than 50% of Cameroonians can have access to the Internet. The situation is even worse in rural areas given the limited number of city dwellers who own smartphones, added to the numerous network problems and the risks of internet shutdowns. Although, there has been a steady progress made so far as compared to the yesteryears, much still needs to be done, especially at the level of the optic fibre in order to guarantee internet access all over the national territory.
According to the minister of Post and Telecommunications, Cameroon projects its digital sector to grow by 6.4% by 2029 in its 2020-2030 National Development Strategy. To reach that target, the country plans to increase the Internet penetration rate from 35.6% to 80%, boost the digital access index from 0.16 to 0.4, increase the data transfer rate from 3800 Mb/s to 1.4 Tb/s, and reduce the digital divide from 71.81% to 50%.
Sandra Fomuso
