This new born baby did not however come without its troubles. At first, obtaining a mobile phone set entailed sacrificing colossal sums of money. And so, those who afforded for one were regarded as people with special status in society. But as time went on and as the market was being invaded by cheaper mobile phone sets from Asia, trouble changed direction. This time, the hurdle was no longer getting a phone set but “feeding” it with airtime. Yes, airtime. This is where the real problem lies.
Cameroon’s major mobile telephone operators, MTN and Orange are, from every indication not finding it easy with their customers. Not only does the mobile telephone user consider the cost of communication excessively high, he finds himself in a fix wherein even at that high price, he is still unable to make calls at will. Even when the so called “network” is there, calls are frequently interrupted. As if that were not all, the companies themselves worsen things by devising other means of getting customers spend the little airtime in their sets in the name of lottery or better still, gambling, which is seriously regulated in Cameroon.
On several occasions, the Telecommunication Regulatory Board (ART) has called these companies to order (on paper) and no change is observed. In a new call for tender published in CT yesterday, the regulator expressed the need to establish a model of calculating communication rates and an audit of the accounts of telecommunication companies. This urge is testimony of the fact that ART has hitherto found itself in a position of inability to put order in the sector. The situation is worse when it comes to internet services. All the companies including CAMTEL, so far considered as the mother enterprise are unable to supply Cameroonians with credible internet services. They are fast in gunning for sophisticated internet gadgets including portable flash, but have not been able to improve its strength. How can we pride ourselves with an internet service where one is unable to download a simple text? All these weigh so much on the customer and tantamount to real exploitation.
