CamTel, MTN, Orange and Viettel were fined a total of XAF6 billion (US$9.8 million) for poor quality of service in Cameroon, where subscribers staged protests in their demand for improved services.
Business in Cameroon reported, the head of the telecommunications regulatory board Philemon Zo’o Zame said the fines were dished out for repeated violations of quality and coverage targets.
Orange was given the largest fine totalling XAF2.2 billion followed by Viettel (Nexttel) with a penalty of XAF1.6 billion, MTN Cameroon was slapped with XAF1.4 billion and state-operator CamTel (Blue) was fined XAF800 million.
In April, the Cameroonian government ordered MNOs to improve their service quality during a crisis meeting, after subscribers coordinated protests where they would switch on aeroplane mode at specific times simultaneously.
The operators pledged to bring forward their network upgrade plans for 2023 and reimburse customers who suffered lengthy downtimes.
