State-owned operator Cameroon Telecommunications (Camtel) has signed a mobile network sharing agreement with French operator group Orange to boost service quality and narrow the gap with its larger mobile rivals.
Speaking to Developing Telecoms at the Africa Tech Festival in Cape Town this month, Camtel’s Director of Strategy, Organisation, Project and Innovation, Gilbert Ngono, explained that Camtel only launched its commercial mobile arm in 2020 after securing its licence. To expedite the development of its new mobile division, the operator has entered into a national roaming agreement.
Since entering the mobile market, the state-owned incumbent has been playing catch-up with Pan-African giants Orange and MTN, whose mobile operations have been established since the early 2000s, Ngono noted.
“We started mobile not long ago, and to close the coverage gap—while we are deploying infrastructure, which is a very capex-intensive business—we are, in the meantime, signing roaming agreements with other operators,” Ngono said.
“We began with MTN and are now finalising an agreement with Orange to cover areas where we are not currently present. As we deploy and grow, we will gradually phase out the agreement in each area we expand to.”
Ngono did not disclose when the network-sharing agreement will come into effect, as details are still being finalised. The agreement will primarily benefit rural councils in Cameroon, unlike urban locations such as the capital Yaoundé and Douala, the country’s largest city, where roaming is unnecessary. Urban areas currently make up 70% of Camtel’s mobile subscriber base.
Ngono stated that Camtel holds under 5% of Cameroon’s CFA800 billion mobile market but expressed confidence that, with network expansion plans, the operator would reach a 10% market share within the next two years.
5G and beyond
Ngono revealed that Camtel plans to conduct 5G pilots next year in Yaoundé, Douala, and selected rural locations to align with the government’s Universal Service mandate. The operator is also pursuing a dual-vendor strategy for future deployments, with its current main vendor partner being Huawei.
“We have been in partnership with Huawei; they have been very strong for us due to funding from China Exim Bank. Historically, they have provided substantial capital for our network deployments. However, we have realised our dependency on them and want to reduce it. We are introducing new vendors with a dual-vendor strategy, which is now being aggressively implemented,” Ngono said. The operator has begun collaborating with Nokia and Juniper Networks.
Fibre expansion
As part of its expansion plans, Camtel aims to increase its fibre-optic network from 12,000 kilometres to between 17,000 and 22,000 kilometres. A significant project within this initiative is Backbone Number 4, which will add new fibre-optic lines and routes for data traffic, with a budget of CFA100 billion (US$160 million).
To counter the risk of vandalism to its fibre-optic lines, Camtel plans to lay cables along rail tracks and power lines to deter potential damage. The operator previously laid fibre along an oil pipeline to enhance network resilience and “stabilise our backbone,” ensuring connectivity for wholesale customers in neighbouring landlocked countries such as Chad.