Camtel defends services, blames competitors’ ‘inability’ to manage traffic ⁰

Amid growing criticism from competitors like MTN Cameroon over the quality of its internet services, state-owned telecommunications company Camtel, which holds exclusive rights to distribute fiber-optic connections, has continued to defend its infrastructure. On Camtel Actu on Saturday, September 21, Camtel’s Director General, Judith Yah Sunday, stated, “Not only do we have the capabilities, but we also have redundancy.” She explained, “This means that if the underground cable is cut, we have the Eneo cable (the electric utility, Ed.) on the high-voltage lines to ensure service continuity.”

According to the director, “Even if our cable is cut, communications are automatically switched to Eneo’s high-voltage cable, and everything continues to function without anyone noticing.” Nevertheless, Camtel’s internet services are frequently disrupted, frustrating consumers and annoying competitors, many of whom rely on Camtel as their service provider. Camtel, which claims to be the guarantor of Cameroon’s “digital sovereignty,” often blames these network disruptions on roadworks that damage the underground cable.

To highlight the reliability of its infrastructure as the “only operator capable of providing capacity to all other operators,” Yah Sunday emphasized that Camtel operates a national terrestrial backbone that connects all ten regions, along with four submarine cables linking Cameroon to the rest of the world. As a result, she added, “Even in the extraordinary event of a cable being cut between Yaoundé and Douala, we have a redundant path through Bafoussam via the Douala-Bafoussam-Yaoundé axis.“

This marks Camtel’s second public response in a week to criticisms over the quality of internet services provided by the country’s historical telecommunications operator. In a statement on September 18, published in the government daily Cameroon Tribune, Yah Sunday accused competitors of contributing to poor network performance “due to their large subscriber base and insufficient measures taken to manage their traffic efficiently.“

Source: Sbbc