The State of Information & Communications Technologies in Cameroon: A Government Perspective

Cameroon: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Third Annual Progress Report
Published: July 18, 2006
Series: IMF Country Report No. 06/260 (70 Pages)
Format: Electronic (free) & Paper (US$15.00)

The IMF today made public Cameroon's Third annual Progress Report which was submitted by that country's Government in February 2006,. The report is based on data which was valid as of December 31, 2005. According to the IMF, these country progress reports “describe the country's macroeconomic, structural, and social policies in support of growth and poverty reduction, as well as associated external financing needs and major sources of financing.”

Of particular interest  was the Government's Progress Report on the state of Information and Communications Technologies in Cameroon (particularly the Internet), which has been the focus of at least two articles on this blog in the past few months. The ICT overview below (pages 38-40 of the report) gives us a fairly good idea of what the government plans to do (at least in theory) to move  the country from a technologically lagging country to a technologically developing one:      

3.4.2 Information and Communication Technologies
157. The strategy on the development of telecommunications and ICTs was finalised and validated in 2005. The next step will focus on the preparation of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for the telecommunications and ICTs sector.

158. The execution of the project on the construction of comprehensive pilot community telecommunications centres is on course. A total of 10 buildings out of the 16 planned were delivered, including 7 in 2004 and 3 in 2005. Others are being finalised and will be delivered before the end of the first quarter of 2006. The internal equipment and furniture are available. Besides, some sixty youths were trained, some as managers and others as operators. The first tests were carried out in the Centre province at Makenene, and in the South province.

159. A decree by the head of State to promulgate law No 2005/013 of 29 December 2005 to amend and complete certain provisions of law No 98/014 of 14 July 1998 to govern the telecommunications sector in Cameroon, outlines who shall authorize the expenditure of the Telecommunications Special Fund, thus making the Fund operational. The signature by the head of State, on 1 November 2005, of a decree to fix conditions for the installation and payment by public administrations of
telecommunications services, is a decisive step towards the setting up of an interministerial communication network whose objective is to avoid having all state communications pass through private networks. The instrument laying down modalities for the organisation and functioning of the inter-ministerial committee in charge of controlling the use of telecommunications services by state personnel is being finalised.

160. As concerns the development of ICTs, thirty (30) licences authorising the provision of services and/or access to the Internet were issued in 2003, and nineteen (19) in 2004. As at December 2005, some sixty operators were providing Internet access and other added value services to the public. The Internet network has a sixnode access point (POP) and 75 VSAT access points. The Internet user’s rate as at 31 December 2004 stands at 0.16 per cent of the population. A national survey prepared and launched by MINPOSTEL, in conjunction with the National Institute of Statistics, will help in the assessment of the level of penetration and use of ICTs in Cameroon. The creation of management bodies of the National Information and Communication Technologies Board (ANTIC) will boost activities in the sector by introducing a new impetus.

161. Significant efforts were made towards the amelioration of international connections with Cameroon using an optical fibre installed along the Doba-Kribi pipeline, with the opening in Douala of a land point of the SAT-3 sub-marine cable of a 2.5 Gbit/s capacity. The signing, in October 2005 of the memorandum of understanding between COTCO and the State of Cameroon, and retrocession to CAMTEL on 24 November 2005, of the twelve optical fibres contained in the cable installed along the Chad-Cameroon pipeline, will enable CAMTEL to activate exit points and extend the said fibre to all potential users. Government is planning to fully contribute to the establishment and development of a Principal Network in Central Africa, and to the realisation of a Trans-African Backbone stretching from the West to the East coast of the continent. The technical and financial bid for the conduct of a detailed feasibility study of this network has been submitted to the World Bank by the
consultant AXIOM.

162. During implementation of the Minimum Investment Programme (MIP), CAMTEL ensured the installation of two digital exchanges in Yaounde and Douala, the digitalisation of some exchange and transmission lines, the creation of Internet access points, the execution of the prepayment platform, etc. The fixed density of telecommunications rose from 0.6% in 2003 to 0.7% in 2005. As concerns the exploitation of the wireless local ring in CDMA technology, CAMTEL in October 2005 received a block of 20,000 lines from ART; this enabled the corporation to launch its “CT phone” with evident success among customers. The extension and densification of this product will greatly increase the fixed density of telecommunications.

163. Furthermore, in 2005, about one million additional lines were put at the disposal of the two mobile phone operators, thus bringing the total number of lines up to about 3,300,000 for a density of 12.3 percent in 2005, as against 6.6 in 2003. The cumulative number of active subscribers of both mobile operators stands above two million. The turn-over of the sub-sector rose from CFAF 225 thousand million in 2003 up to CFAF 253 thousand million in 2004.

164. As for the establishment of the cryptology and certification system, the experimental platform of the system has been installed in MINPOSTEL, with the assistance of experts of the International Union of Telecommunications. The adoption of a legal and statutory framework will facilitate electronic transactions, including aspects relating to electronic signature, security and encryption.

Click here for a link to the Progress Report

IMF Note
Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) are prepared by member countries in broad consultation with stakeholders and development partners, including the staffs of the World Bank and the IMF. Updated every three years with annual progress reports, they describe the country's macroeconomic, structural, and social policies in support of growth and poverty reduction, as well as associated external financing needs and major sources of financing. This country document for Cameroon, dated February 2006, is being made available on the IMF website by agreement with the member country as a service to users of the IMF website.