(Business in Cameroon) - Incumbent operator CAMTEL recently launched “Blue” sim cards for its mobile subscribers five months after the creation of its new commercial brand “Blue”. 

According to internal sources, the sales of these sim cards are the prelude to an official launch of the operator’s 3G/4G network. "The official launch should happen this year. We expect it for the first quarter of the current year,” CAMTEL says.  

Our sources explain that the last obstacle to the launch of the mobile service "Blue Mobile" has almost been addressed.  "A new organizational chart was adopted at the Board of Directors meeting of December 30 [2021] and it reinforces the autonomy of the business units [as required by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications] backed by the three concession agreements granted by the government. The latest functional reorganization will remove any remaining blockages," we learn. Nevertheless, the service is already active, the sources added. 

In the mobile market, CAMTEL is still a minor player.  According to figures published by the Ministry of ¨Posts and Telecommunications in November 2021, Orange Cameroon was the leading operator with over 11.899 million subscribers. MTN was second with over 11.099 million subscribers. Nexttel was third with some 2.3 million subscribers while CAMTEL was last with over 1.8 million subscribers. 

Sylvain Andzongo