Mobile telephony:

There is no 4G mobile operator in Cameroon?

The revelation was made by the DG of the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency and the minister of P & T

By Mercy Neba in Douala

MinetteLibom Li Likeng

Is there really a 4G in Cameroon? The answer to this question is an incontestable ‘no’ if we go by the declaration of Jean Louis BehMengue, director general of the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ART). The latter was speaking in response to a question posed by a journalist at a two-day event in Douala recently. He was there to evaluate the added value which the so-called 3G and 4G technologies could bring for the improvement of the daily life’s of Cameroonians.

                The event that had as theme “Forum on the 3G/4G services in the digital economy of Cameroon”, took place on 9 and 10 February 2016.

                BehMengue’s response put an end to the quarrels on the exclusiveness that some telephone companies operating in Cameroon claim to have and the first place that some of them attribute to themselves.

                He advanced technical reasons to explain his point. He said licences given to operators in the sector are accompanied by bands and frequencies of exploitation. For the moment, he explained, the only frequencies that have been given out are those concerning the 2G which, up till now, was practised by operators. He said only one operator has received a 3G licence with the technical preferences relating to it.

                The DG went on to say that the operator which practises 4G in the country today uses the 2G frequency. “This is what explains the problems in the quality of service of the latter,” he explained.

                These problems, it should be noted, were also pointed out by MinetteLibom Li Likeng, minister of Posts and Telecommunications, in her address at the opening of the forum. She decried the problems in the identification of subscribers, the limitations in the so-called large band infrastructure and difficulties linked to interconnection with dealers of the network.

                It was not only the minister and the DG who expressed dissatisfaction with the services of mobile phone operators in the country. Almost everyone who made a presentation and who answered questions from users and journalists had something to complain about their services.  

                In the end, they were all unanimous that these technologies should be better implanted in Cameroon so that everyone can gain something from them.