Studies have confirmed that the mobile telephony market in Cameroon is still very juicy and full of opportunities. Thus as Camtel’s mobile subsidiary braces up to join the train, Cameroonians can be hopeful that it would not only better the availability and quality of service, but will also create wealth, jobs and what have you?
In line with the strategic vision of the Mobile Communications Network Programme, MCN, organ charged with the definition and putting in place of Camtel’s mobile component, the latter is expected to generate at least FCFA 150 billion at the end of its third year of activity. “This is quite huge for a company that is barely entering the market. The impact of such revenue on the economy can no longer be overemphasized,” said David Nkoto Emane,Camtel’s General Manager.
Apart from this which would directly accrue to the company, Camtel’s mobile subsidiary also intends to render the environment favorable for the development of both direct and indirect revenue generating activities.
Direct revenue generating activities would consist of recruiting staff for the company while indirect would refer to annex activities that would crop up following the start off of Camtel’s 4G mobile network, officials said. Among these are the distribution of communication credit, the development of callshops, supply of telecommunications equipment, development of applications and editorial contents, sale as well as maintenance of terminals and their accessories, internet supply to private distributors, recruitment of sales commandos, creation of community telecentres and the cropping up of Mobile Virtual Operators for the resale of traffic among many others.
These will greatly contribute towards wealth creation and by extension reduce poverty. With the new technology which is superior to that which local operators offer in the country, it is clear that Cameroonians would want to go for it and secondly would want to patronize it because they
would be more confident in their incumbent operator.
Socially speaking, Camtel’s mobile network would greatly transform the local environment as well as the living conditions of the Cameroonian people. Gone would be those days when people had to cover long distances on bad roads to go consult a medical specialist, attend lectures in a university, buy or sell goods. With the coming of Camtel’s mobile subsidiary, telemedicine, e-commerce, e – learning, mobile money, distance control of utility consumption and many more would become real. And that’s not all .With Camtel’s mobile network, Cameroonoians’ security would be assured the more. It would ease the control of electronic communications which formerly was managed by foreign operators. More so, it will also facilitate the fight against cybercrime as well as enable government through Camtel to play an active role in strategic decision making in the sector. It is also vital to note that with
Camtel’s mobile, financial transactions on the internet would easily be tracked and secured meanwhile access rights to multimedia content would also be protected with much ease. According to Mr David Nkoto Emane, “unlike the foreign operators who concentrate only on big towns due to the market potential they offer, Camtel as a national operator will seek to protect national interest by extending its network to all the corners of the national territory.”
Benedict Ndinwa
