(Business in Cameroon) - The Cameroonian weekly publication, Repères, has just revealed that Viettel Cameroon, the third largest mobile telephone company, has written to the Office of the President to request that its 3G monopoly be extended. According to a concession contract signed in December 2012, Viettel Cameroon has exclusive 3G rights as of the date of the contract being signed. So, logically, the mobile telephone company’s 3G monopoly will expire in December 2014.
However, the telecommunications company, after postponing its opening twice, will not be in business until September 2014, which is only three months before its 3G monopoly expires. Viettel Cameroon heads are seeking to convince the Cameroonian government to have the exclusivity clause be applicable “after the start of business” instead of counting from the date the contract was signed. If the Cameroonian government acquiesces, this would extend the period of 3G exclusivity to 2016. This monopoly has been severely criticised by MTN and Orange, the two other mobile telephone companies in Cameroon.
However, Viettel Cameroon’s request comes at a bad time for the company. The 15-year concession contract signed July 7, 1999 by the Cameroonian government and Orange will come to an end in July 2014. The two parties will therefore be negotiating a new contract (if they have not already started) which will no doubt include the granting of a 3G licence in light of the criticism levied by the mobile telephone company when Viettel Cameroon received exclusive rights to 3G technology.
In February 2015, the concession contract of 15 years between Cameroon and MTN, which was first established on February 15, 2000, will also expire. Before the actual expiration and the opening of negotiations for a new concession contract, the Cameroonian subsidiary of the South-African giant, by way of its Managing Director, Karl Toriola, has already announced that it has presented the Cameroonian government with a request for a 3G licence.
During his recent media appearances, MTN Cameroon’s Managing Director even announced that the company was prepared to invest up to 600 billion FCfa if the government would grant it the 3G licence. These are the details that are certain to grab the Cameroonian government’s attention before it respond to Viettel Cameroon’s request to have its 3G exclusivity extended.
BRM