Telecommunications Regulatory Board Slams Sanctions on Service Providers
Cameroon’s Telecommunications Regulatory Board, TRB has issued a series of sanctions on mobile telephone service providers in the country.
The financial penalties which amount up to six billion CFAF were meted out on CAMTEL, MTN Cameroon, Orange Cameroun and VIETTEL Cameroun.
In a statement issued by the Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Board, Philemon Zoo Zame, the six billion CFAF fine will be distributed for payment to the different service providers as follows;
– CAMTEL : eight hundred million (800,000,000) CFAF
– MTN Cameroon : one billion four hundred million ( 1,400,000,000) CFAF
– ORANGE Cameroun : two billion two hundred million (2,200,000,000) CFAF
– VIETTEL Cameroun : one billion six hundred million ( 1,600,000,000 ) CFAF.
According to the release, these sanctions come as a result of repeated infringements observed while following up the obligations contained in their respective contracts in terms of coverage and quality of electronic communications services.
The Director General of the TRB, in a press release dated February 13 2023, highlighted the following actions taken by the Regulator in response to the persistent deterioration in the quality of service provided by mobile telephone networks;
– Multidisciplinary inspection missions carried out, evidenced by reports
– Sending of formal notices to the operators with a deadline to implement corrective measures
– Holding of bilateral consultations with the operators to assess the level of correction of the shortcomings identified.
The TRB Director General insists on his recent communique that these financial penalties are enforceable titles as per the provisions of Decree No. 2020/727 of 3rd December 2020 on the reorganisation and functioning of the TRB.
Also, they do not exclude administrative sanctions against the said operators, including the reduction of the concession period and or its revocation.
These sanctions to the service providers in Cameroon come on the heels of widespread rage on the part of users as to the poor services they have been subjected to.
An online campaign was recently observed calling on subscribers to boycott providers’ services by shutting down their telephones or leaving them on flight mode during certain hours of the day.
The Director General of the TRB in his release, assures consumers that the Regulator will use all the means at its disposal, in accordance with the regulations in force, to ensure that concession holding mobile telephone operators provide electronic communications services of satisfactory quality to their subscribers throughout the national territory.
Bruno Ndonwie Funwie
