Camtel is also concerned with agro-pastoral activity-DG

David Nkoto Emane, Camtel DG, made this revelation in an interview he granted the press recently and after participating at a workshop on ICTs, during which he made two proposals to foreign investors present.

What was the objective of your meeting with investors?

The objective of my meeting with investors was to show them what Camtel has been doing in recent years. I can assure you that we have not communicated sufficiently. We had nothing to say because we were working. But today, we are capable of presenting to the public…the work that Camtel does, even though investors do not constitute our only targets. It is already something. These investors can help us in a number of subjects.

Concretely, what are these projects?

I presented two projects to them pertaining essentially to telecommunication. The first was that of optic fibre, given that we continue to talk of access to the fibre. The fluidity of the internet network must not suffer anymore. We have this project and are simply in search of financing so as to continue with the installations.

It will enable Cameroonians to surf at a low cost and to use services such as video, television, and free road. It also has to do with The Fibre-To-The-X, FTTX, project which will facilitate the connection of one million households in Yaounde and Douala, 300 SMEs.

In short, the objective of the FTTX project is to take tele-density of 45% to 2020, modify and make dense the network by introducing the optic fibre. The second project is an application which we wrote. Camtel does not have the vocation to write applications, but it is an example that we are showing to our young engineers.

Could you briefly present this second project?

The second project that we presented to the investors is Cameroon’s agro-pastoral portal. This project aims at deploying a platform of convergence of web and mobile technologies for the agro-pastoral sector in Cameroon. This would help reduce the digital gap in the rural milieu, render agricultural contracts more transparent, reduce transaction costs, galvanize development, encourage amongst others exchanges and high scale broadcast of information in good time.

The application that we wrote is not only meant for urban areas. It is particularly meant for rural areas. You know that the rate of the mobile in Cameroon is 70%. Even in the most remote areas, you can use ICTs. He who says that without the 4G and the optic fibre there is no digital economy is making an error. There are countries which had digital economy before deploying the optic fibre. Thus it is an error to think that for a digital economy to be put in place in Cameroon, 175 000 km2 of optic fibre should be deployed.

What does this application bring to Camtel?

It brings nothing to Camtel but it permits us to make it known to the youth that they can now develop applications which are specific to our country.

And if finally investors do not finance these products, how would you go ahead to implement them?

We have always talked of the privatization of Camtel. This is what constitutes the sword of Damocles which can at anytime destroy our projects for lack of financing. But throughout my eleven year’s experience as general manager, I’ve always had financing when I ask for them. Proof is that we are in the process of placing submarine cables between Cameroon and Brazil. This investment costs 370 million dollars for a company which is on the road to privatization.