Orange Cameroon, the subsidiary of France Telecom plans to invest nearly 1,500 billion CFA over the next 10 years for the development and operation of its network in Cameroon. The announcement was made the 17th December by the Cameroon CEO of the company, Elizabeth Medou Badang.
“Our desire to invest in the submarine cable ACE (Africa Coast to Europe) remains as the means of optimizing access to the Internet. We will implement as soon as the regulatory framework permits is granted; it will also permits the access to mobile broadband, “said the CEO of Orange Cameroon.
Since 2010, the mobile operator is negotiating with the government of Cameroon, the installation of submarine cable ACE, along 17,000 km, linking the west coast of Africa to the European continent. ACE was built by a consortium of 17 operators including France Telecom, which suggests building a landing point of ACE in Kribi, in the southern region of the country.
However, Orange ambitions on the fiber optic cable named ACE, come up against Cameroon law, which, for now, grants exclusive management of the fiber optic to CAMTEL, the national telecom operator.
Orange is currently negotiating with the Cameroonian government to renew its mobile license in 2015. This new license will include the use of 3G technology, as recently promised by the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Jean Pierre Biyiti bi Essam.
According to Cameroonian authorities, Cameroon is supposed to inaugurate in 2015, its second 3G mobile license assigned to Cameroon Telecommunications (CAMTEL). CAMTEL which is already holding a mobile license, which was sold in 1999 to Orange Cameroon, the local subsidiary of the French operator reached the market a year later before the subsidiary of South Africa’s MTN. But in 15 years of activity of the two operators, the sector has seen little technological change.