(Business in Cameroon) - The Cameroonian government instructed Nexttel, the country’s third largest mobile operator, to deactivate about 700,000 chips in recent weeks, sources at the post and telecoms department said.

The joint venture between Vietnamese Viettel Global and Cameroonian Bestinver is accused of not complying with the regulation in force which requires operators to register all their subscribers at the time the SIM cards are made available to them.

In 2017, the telecoms regulatory agency (ART) fined MTN, Orange, Nexttel and the incumbent Camtel an amount of XAF10 billion for non-compliance with obligations related to subscriber identification and the use of radio frequencies.

BRM