Sanitising, Restructuring the Cable TV Sector

The on-going National Communication Forum in Yaounde has revisited the major axes of the 2006 National Forum for Cable TV (FONAT) in a bid to consider ways and means through which Cable TV in Cameroon can better function. For over two days, members of the workshop charged with "Cleaning up Cable Distribution and Structuring the Sector" have delved into the status of those operating in the sector and their economic viability as well as the relationship between operators in the sector visa-a-visa the State, the community and other partners.

The moderator of the workshop, Professor André Akam Akam, who is Dean of the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences at the University of Yaounde II said given that Cable TV operators mostly exist in urban areas with several problems linked to their activities such as the absorption of the spiral of signals piracy which is a violation of property rights as well as the anarchic proliferation of structures, there is need to look into the quality of services and the infrastructure put in place so as to curb the existence of cables passing across various streets in the country with it's environmental impact.

Participants at the workshop also discussed the relationship between local operators and Canal-Horizon which is the main provider of cables in the country. Professor Akam Akam noted that local cable providers decried the abusive dormant role of Canal-Horizon in which they came-up with a platform where both sectors will henceforth operate in peace for the economic growth of the country. At the end of the workshop, participants also came up with a plan to organise the sector as well as a consensual platform for the management of property rights and modalities for the transfer of these rights to operators.