Here comes a bold, new digital world

The attribution of a 3G/4G licence to MTN Cameroon is expected to usher a new era for telecommunications in Cameroon.

The over 10 million Cameroonian consumers and foreign residents using the Mobile Telephone Network, MTN Cameroon will hence witness speedy and affordable services as promised by the company as it embraces the 3G/4G Google System for Mobile Communication, GSM licence.

The national telecommunications market leader as they qualify the company, has promised to facilitate into a bold, new digital world, with numerous advantages for its clients.

After a long and a pretty challenging period of negotiations, the government of Cameroon and MTN Cameroon yesterday 11 March, 2015, affixed their signatures sealing an agreement to renew MTN Cameroon’s GSM and launch its 3G operations. The Ministers of Posts and Telecommunications and Finance, Jean Pierre Biyiti bi Essam and Alamine Ousmane Mey respectively alongside MTN Cameroon’s Chief Executive Officer, Karl O.

Toriola rejoiced over a happy denouement, saying public-private partnership was ushering in a new lease of exemplary services in quantity and quality at affordable rates. Jean Pierre Biyiti bi Essam cautioned the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency, to watch out for the scrupulous respect of the terms of reference of the concession agreement.

The diversification to 3G, MTN was told, comes along with the deployment of new powerful and more modern infrastructure to ensure service quality. The 3G licence that cost MTN FCFA 75 billion spans 15 years but network shall be available only in 16 towns from the first year of exploitation. It is expected to be rolled-out to all towns progressively. The company projects to deploy 700 sites across the country and hopes to cover at least 75 per cent of the population.

Access to 3G is expected to boost Internet usage. “We are going to have 3G which is a faster technology,” said the Chairman of MTN Cameroon, Colin E. Mukete. He underscored that the Internet is indispensable for development, “and this is what is driving everything in the first world countries,” he stressed. Equipment has been made available to transfer data at a faster speed and watching video on phone live on quicker speed is now made possible, he explained.

Karl O.Toriola underlined that an increase of 10 subscribers to Internet for 100 inhabitants could “trigger per capita GDP growth by 0.59 per cent.” With an increased Internet penetration, the Association of Mobile Operators, GSMA, estimates that the telecommunications sector in Africa will create many jobs by 2020.

Reports say only 400, 000 Cameroonians have Internet connection in their homes against 7 million Nigerians. Estimates place the use of Internet to 30 per cent of MTN Cameroon’s subscribers’ base by 2016, and more than 20 per cent Internet penetration rate in Cameroon, which is below 7 per cent.