Cameroon: Two Months to Improve Mobile Phone Services

Mobile phone services criticized

Mobile phone operators in Cameroon, MTN Cameroon, Orange Cameroon and Camtel, are facing a lot of criticism regarding the quality of their services. A recent inspection conducted by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications revealed malfunctions in their technical installations, which affects the daily lives of consumers across the country.

The complaints are recurrent. Franck Tchouta, a Cameroonian in the diaspora, describes his experience in the West region of Cameroon, where he found there was no telephone network and difficulty accessing the Internet. Similar stories are emerging in major cities, where subscribers complain of limited network coverage and the unexplained disappearance of their data credit.

Insufficient investment in infrastructure

Although operators have announced that they will invest 156 billion CFA francs in 2023 to expand their coverage and improve their services, the authorities believe that these efforts are insufficient. The Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Minette Libom Likeng, stressed that these investments have not been made on access infrastructure, thus creating saturation and poor network quality.

In particular, Camtel, the state operator, holds a monopoly on digital transport, but its management of this segment is judged to be below the required performance criteria, according to the results of the inspection carried out by the ministry.

A two-month ultimatum

In light of these findings, the Cameroonian government has given the three operators two months to improve their services. They are required to comply with the established specifications and to remedy the technical failures identified. However, consumer associations, such as the PAEIS platform, remain skeptical about the real impact of this decision.

According to Georges Ngono Edzoa, general coordinator of PAEIS, mobile phone operators in Cameroon act with impunity and do not seem to fear sanctions. Last year, despite fines amounting to 6 billion CFA francs, no notable change was observed in the quality of services.

Conclusion

With over 24 million telephone subscribers, Cameroon is an important market for mobile operators, which have annual revenues of over 584 billion CFA francs. However, the quality of services provided is a growing concern for both consumers and authorities. The next two months will be decisive in assessing whether operators will meet the expectations of the government and users.