(Business in Cameroon) – Cameroon’s Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Minette Libom Li Likeng, scheduled a visit today to the technical facilities of telecom operators MTN and Orange in Douala. The inspection will continue on October 11 in Yaoundé, where she will assess the facilities of state-owned telecom company Camtel. The minister’s visits aim to evaluate the implementation of recommendations made to mobile operators, following numerous user complaints about the decline in service quality.
According to official sources, this inspection follows an earlier visit by the regulatory authority, which was conducted based on directives from Minister Libom Li Likeng. The purpose is to ensure that mobile operators are meeting their commitments, especially since the quality of telecom services in Cameroon has worsened in recent months, despite already being a long-standing issue.
The minister sent letters to the operators and regulators on September 18, 2024, demanding a report within 72 hours on the steps taken to address the ongoing service quality problems. These instructions followed a consultation meeting held in April 2023.
It remains unclear what feedback the minister received from these operators, but in 2023, MTN, Orange, and Camtel pledged to invest CFA156 billion across their networks to improve service quality. However, a year later, users continue to face major disruptions, with operators blaming each other.
A statement from the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ART) on September 11, 2024, indicated that these issues are due to insufficient power supply and difficulties in refueling technical sites, particularly in major cities. Another major problem is the frequent damage to fiber-optic cables, which are managed exclusively by Camtel.
MTN Cameroon, in a statement on September 23, 2024, noted that the number of fiber cuts has increased by over 40% compared to the previous year. This has led to a more than 30% rise in the time it takes to resolve incidents, with some repairs taking several days.
Camtel, on the other hand, blames the poor service on the large number of subscribers using the networks of private operators like MTN and Orange, claiming they have not taken sufficient action to manage the increased traffic.
