(Business in Cameroon) - Since the 3^rd mobile phone operator launched in September 2014 and MTN’s local subsidiary Camtel received its 4^th licence, the local subsidiary of South Africa’s MTN established itself as a leader for the first three quarters of the year, beating out Orange’s subsidiary, particularly in terms of customer base and generated revenue.

Based on interim results reported by the two groups on their key performance for the period ending on September 30, 2014, MTN Cameroon’s subscriber base grew quickly, reaching 11.233 million customers, which represents a 9.7% growth over the previous year. Orange also grew in this area, but to a lesser degree: only 6.465 million customers.

The subscription leader, MTN Cameroon is also surpassing its main competitor in overall revenue. Indicators suggest that Orange Cameroon’s cumulative revenue for the first three quarters of 2014 amounted 213 million euros or 139,632 billion FCFA.  MTN has not yet published its overall financials for the 3^rd quarter, but already for the first quarter closing in June 2014, the company announced 3.048 billion South African rand or over 144 billion FCFA in overall revenue, to which should be added the 25.526 billion FCFA generated in the third quarter from mobile products.  This brings its total earnings to close to 170 billion FCFA up to September 30, 2014.

Throughout 2014, awaiting the launch of the 3^rd mobile service provider and its 3G exclusivity, the two leading companies made many service and incentive offers to attract more customers. A real performance assessment was made at the end of the first quarter of 2015 as Nexttel (a Viettel group subsidiary) will have already been in business for some time.

Orange announced that it has made significant investments in Cameron to improve its voice service as well as the internet – the sector’s new battleground. Pending these investments yielding results, MTN Cameroon continues to lead by using marketing that seems to be working. Its dominant position should not, however, affect both companies’ profit margins as net profit depends on a range of factors such as operational costs, various fees, amortisation and the volume of taxes associated with gross revenue.