Telcos debate with gov't over 3G licence

As Viettel’s 3G monopoly extension is being considered by the government while the company awaits the government’s decision, the debate on the implementation of this technology in Cameroon is getting more and more heated. On June 13, a delegation of senior representatives of the South African company, MTN, met with the nation’s MPs and did not hesitate to complain about the restriction on the granting of 3G licences which it believes poses serious harm to the nation’s interests

It is in the context of this barely veiled battle over 3G services that the weekly publication Repères recently revealed correspondence addressed in June 2012 to the Secretary General of the Office of the President of the Republic of Cameroon right after making a call for tenders on May 28, 2012, for the granting of a 3G licence in Cameroon. In this document, Tom Philipps, Chief Regulator Officer of the GSM Association, which is made up of telecommunications companies from 218 countries worldwide, expressed “concerns” about the AGSM after the government call for tenders was published.

The AGSM did not understand that existing companies, in this case MTN and Orange, may be “excluded from the licensing process to make way for larger bandwidth 3G services.” This is all the more significant as “a newcomer to the market will have to make considerable investments to build the network […] while companies already on the ground would be able to put their 3G mobile services in place very quickly by simply updating their commercial infrastructure and existing techniques.”

Bolstered by this line of argument, AGSM concluded that, “to benefit from wide bandwidth mobile services in terms of economic growth, diversification and job creation in Cameroon, existing mobile companies should not be excluded from the 3G licensing process.”

Despite these AGSM reserves, in late 2012, the Cameroonian government granted 3G exclusivity to Viettel for a period of two years which has yet to launch a year-and-a-half later. Furthermore, the Vietnamese firm has applied for an extension of its exclusive rights until 2016. Meanwhile, Orange and MTN Cameroon are pushing hard to have their 3G licences granted as quickly as possible.