The observation is made by the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications after a visit made on May 10 to the premises of the two companies in Douala.
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Of the 5 immediate measures prescribed by the government at the end of a sector consultation at the end of last April, 3 were implemented by Orange Cameroon and 4 by MTN. For the latter company, the missing measure concerns the provision to the consumer of systematic information on the uplink and downlink speed of the data. What appears to be a technically complex measure to execute, some sources report. Moreover, at Orange Cameroon, this measure is also one of the two that remain to be implemented. The second being the provision to the consumer of a comparative interface of offers.
These data were communicated to the press by the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications following a raid on each of the companies concerned (Orange and MTN) on May 10 in Douala. The purpose of this visit was to assess the level of implementation of the recommendations resulting from the Minpostel-private operators (MTN and Orange)-regulator consultation held on April 27 in Yaoundé. Several measures had been adopted, including short-term measures to be implemented by operators within two weeks. This deadline having expired, the Minister decided to scan them. These included, among other things, the reimbursement of data credit in the event of network unavailability, the display of the credit amount; tariff comparison, educating users on the use of electronic services.
The Minister’s descent into the field comes in a context of crisis marked by the boycott of MTN and Orange Cameroon by their subscribers. But, she wishes to emphasize that it is not a question of an approach motivated by the boycott operation which has been baptized “airplane mode”. For Minette Libom Likeng, airplane mode “ is just a misinformation campaign. We have been in the process of improving the quality of services for a long time. We also held a meeting in December. So this problem is not new. The role of the State is to ensure that consumer rights are respected and we want the consumer to become king again she said.
After noting the willingness of MTN and Orange Cameroon to implement the commitments made, the Minister who was accompanied by the CEO of the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency, indicated that the latter will continue to monitor the grain. He will have to systematically sanction in accordance with the legal provisions any failure of the operators in accordance with the regulations in force.
