Minister of Telcom questions 4G launch

Minette Libom Likeng, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, has reacted to the announcement by two of the three mobile operator companies on launching the 4G in the country.

On a visit to the Telecommunications Regulation Agency (TRA), the head of MINPOSTEL considered it unacceptable that 3G is not yet optimal in the country, but MTN and Orange Cameroon announced the launch of the 4G.

The boss of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications asked the Director General of TRA to come out of his lethargy and provide clarifications to the public on the launch of the 4G in Cameroon, reported an internal source.

Approached by the press the day after the announcement of the launch of 4G by MTN and Orange, the regulator, denounced a lie, “we are preparing on the control to certify the effectiveness of the 3G. But at the consumer level, some data may be displayed believing that everything is ok. But the quality is not there compared to what we would have expected," said the regulator.

She added, “technically they are still at the development stage of the 3G. Even if they already have 4G, do not expect to have it now in phones. Because there is necessarily an intermediate generation that consumers and the general public do not know. This is, for example, the 2.5G and the 2.75G.”

Before the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, several reactions have also denounced false advertising of mobile operator companies in Cameroon.

This is the case of the Cameroonian League Consumers (CLC), which after termination, just called Cameroonian consumers to boycott MTN and Orange SIMs from January 10, “following the daily abuse to their subscribers, whose highest point is the false advertising on the launch of the 4G, on Wednesday, December 16, 2015. Meanwhile, it was not the case, the president of the CLC invited MTN and Orange subscribers to participate massively in the boycott campaign.”

In Douala and Yaounde, the two mobile operators are embarking on a marketing campaign of 4G SIMs and some mobile phones which are “compatible“.