Cameroon to license new mobile operators

Cameroon’s Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Jean Pierre Biyiti Bi Essam, has announced that the government will license up to two new mobile operators in the next few months, local newspaper Le Messager reports. The Minister hopes the introduction of further competition in the market will lead to lower tariffs and improved quality of service. Mr Biyiti Bi Essam also revealed that the government plans to deploy more than 5,000km of fibre-optic cable by 2011 to help the country cope with increased traffic, as well as boost access to broadband services. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, Cameroon is home to two wireless operators : market leader MTN Cameroon, which reported a subscriber base of 4.443 million at 31 March 2010, while France Telecom-owned Orange Cameroun followed with 2.829 million customers. The pair have held a duopoly on the market for over ten years.