Preparation towards the use of submarine cables on course

The Cameroonian Minister of Postal Services and Telecommunications, Jean Pierre Biyiti bi Essam, has just launched a call for expressions of interest to recruit a consultant for the development of operating procedures for submarine cables in Cameroon.

As a part of his or her work, the consultant will be required “to specify the governance and operating mechanisms for the WACS (West Africa Cable System, brought to Cameroon by the MTN group) and other landing stations, to propose an operational management plan, to develop a commercial strategy and define a regulatory framework that guarantees open access.”

Applications are expected to be submitted no later than July 23, 2014 to the coordination unit services of the Central Africa Banckbone (CAB) financed by the World Bank.

Cameroon is already the landing station for submarine cables, of which the WACS laid by a consortium that MTN was a part of, the SAT3 that the public telephone company, Camtel is already managing and a Main One (currently under construction), that will connect Cameroon and Nigeria.

Two other fibre-optic submarine cable lines are also in the pipeline.