Internet users and other influencial figures called for a boycott against Orange Cameroon and MTN Cameroon since Monday 24 April 2023.

They invite Cameroonians to put their mobile phones in “aeroplane mode” between 12 noon . The aim is to “oblige” these telecommunications operators to improve the quality of call and Internet services, and reduce the costs of mobile telephony, Internet, money transfer and mobile payment.

This call has found favour with some Cameroonians, including well-known public figures. “I don’t even know who put up this poster. I received it like many of you. I joined because it concerns the well-being of my Cameroonian brothers. (…)”, wrote the singer Kareyce Fotso on Sunday on her Facebook page.

“Internet is too expensive in our country. All in aeroplane mode this Monday from 12 pm to 2 pm,” also reacted on Facebook, the actor and director Ebenezer Kepombia, better known under his pseudonym Mitoumba.

Lawyer Claude Assira has also decided to join the movement to “demand the respect and consideration normally due to the consumer“.

But this “aeroplane mode” operation is not supported by everyone. This is the case, for example, of the web influencer Steve Fah who believes that this movement of demands will have no impact on the indexed mobile phone operators.

This operation comes in a context marked by numerous complaints from mobile users who constantly deplore network outages, poor call reception, the unexplained disappearance of their Internet or communication credits or difficulties in making electronic transactions. “Of the three major telephone operators in Cameroon (MTN, Orange, Camtel), two of them offer an extraordinarily poor and abusive service.

While waiting for the June session to address written and oral questions, citizens should organise for a parliamentary petition. The ART must urgently step up to the plate. This is downright theft,” lamented MP Cabral Libii, national president of the Cameroonian Party for National Reconciliation (PCRN), on Facebook.
On Sunday, Orange Cameroon sent an SMS to its subscribers to inform them of the “disruption” of its call and Internet services in “certain areas” of Yaounde and Douala, due to “the work of Sonatrel.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ART) generally blames telecoms operators for the persistent deterioration in the quality of service of electronic communications networks, despite the firm commitments made by these companies.