The Telecommunications Regulatory Agency  fined these mobile operators  on May 25th for poor quality of service.

According to a press release issued on 25 May 2023, mobile operators Camtel, Mtn Cameroon, Orange Cameroon and Viettel Cameroon have been fined a total of six billion (6,000,000,000) CFA francs. The reason given by Prof Philémon Zoo Zame, ART’s CEO, was failure to meet the coverage and quality of electronic communications services obligations contained in their respective specifications.

According to Digital Business Africa, the ART carried out several inspection missions in 2022 and 2023, followed by formal notices. Today’s press release sets out the penalties as follows:
– CAMTEL: eight hundred million (800,000,000) CFA francs;
– MTN Cameroon: one billion four hundred million (1,400,000,000) FCFA;
– ORANGE Cameroun: two billion two hundred million (2,200,000,000) FCFA;
– VIETTEL Cameroon: one billion six hundred million (1,600,000,000) FCFA.

“These sanctions are the result of recurrent breaches observed in the context of monitoring the coverage and quality of electronic communications services obligations contained in their respective specifications”, explains Prof. Philémon Zoo Zame, TRA’s CEO.

Furthermore, we learn, the above-mentioned penalties do not exclude administrative sanctions against the said operators, including a reduction in the duration of the concession and/or its withdrawal. The TRA points out that these financial penalties constitute enforceable titles within the meaning of the provisions of Decree No. 2020/727 of 03 December 2020 on the reorganisation and operation of the TRA.

In his press release, the Director General of the TRA reassures consumers that the Regulator will implement all available levers of action in accordance with the regulations in force to ensure that mobile telephone concession operators offer subscribers throughout the national territory electronic communications services of satisfactory quality.