Nexttel Cameroon – Mobile Telecommunication
Mobile technology has greatly evolved in Cameroon since the creation of her very first mobile operator CAMTEL (Cameroon Telecommunications) in the late ’90s. A study undertaken by the Telecoms Regulatory Agency in 2015 revealed that out of 2.2 million citizens in Cameroon, at least 16.8 million were subscribed to mobile telecoms networks. The number of these subscribers has increased since then and is partitioned unevenly between the country’s most used telephone networks: Nexttel Cameroon, Orange Cameroon, and MTN Cameroon.
Cameroon and Telecommunication
Reports from the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published in 2017 revealed that the mobile economy in Cameroon contributed 553 billion FCFA to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), otherwise 3.5% of the country’s total GDP. According to estimates, the digital economy is expected to pull in over 700 billion CFA francs by 2022, about 6% of GDP. In 2018, statistics from the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ART) showed this sector employed directly and indirectly 50,000 people and supported nearly 10,000 jobs. The use of mobile phones is being widely adopted by citizens both in urban and rural areas which were promoted with the launching of electronic payment services. This strong breakthrough in Mobile Money was highly welcomed after the drop in mobile phone subscribers following the suspension of unidentified numbers during the period of massive identification nationwide.
Other than the cited mobile operator so far is the everlasting public telecom operator CAMTEL which to date remains the only operator in the country still using landlines. Though its services have been upgraded to 4G/LTE, this operator has lost a great share over the years with currently only 1.4% of the phone market.
Introduction of Nexttel Cameroon
Till the year 2014, Cameroon was for numerous years one of the rare African countries with only two competing mobile operators: MTN (a subsidiary of the South African company MTN Group) and Orange (French telecoms company). Following a remarkable delay since the creation of MTN Cameroon in 2000, Nexttel (majority-owned by Viettel) launched a new mobile network in 2014. Not only was this going to be the country’s third mobile operator, but it was set up to be the first provider of the country’s first 3G mobile service. This mobile operator has grown rapidly, signing up over 2 million subscribers nationwide and winning a share of the market. By so doing, Nexttel paved the way for competition in 3G in early 2015 when MTN and Orange both launched their services. At the end of 2015, 4G/LTE based mobile broadband was established and since then it has been the catalyst for an ever fast-developing mobile broadband sector. Since then, investment programs undertaken by these mobile operators are aimed at boosting boost mobile broadband services in the suburbs of the country.
Values and mission of Nexttel Cameroon
The main values held by this Cameroonian mobile telecom operator are innovation and accessibility. They work based on a simple philosophy that says “our priority is the satisfaction of our clients and contribute to community projects”. By this, it seeks to:
- Be in line with mobile technology and strive for numeric development in Cameroon.
- Connect all Cameroonians to the rest of the world by rendering technology, mobile services as well as high-speed internet connection accessible to everyone.