(Business in Cameroon) - A report published by the Cameroonian ministry of posts and telecoms (Minpostel) showed a significant growth in the country’s mobile penetration rate, which rose from around 12% in 2005 to almost 83% in 2016.

Available data indicated 20 million mobile subscriptions in 2016, the largest beneficiaries being MTN and Orange. As in most African countries, wireline telephone network significantly dropped in Cameroon over lack of investment, extension and maintenance and due to vandalism related to cable theft. Since 2007, the number of fixed analogue telephone lines has remained below the 2006 value (112,715 lines) and is still concentrated in the Central and Littoral regions (more than 7 lines out of 10).

Although the penetration rate of fixed wireless telephony has been constantly increasing since 2005, mainly due to the high propensity to CDMA subscription, Minpostel reported a very low penetration of wireline network which remains in decline over the period (100,331 wireline telephone subscribers in 2005 against 67,678 in 2016).

S.A