Vietnamese operator Viettel is to become Cameroon’s third mobile operator, pledging to invest about CFAFr200bn (US$393.9m) in the sector.
Viettel was the winning bidder in the recent government-run tender, telecoms minister Jean Pierre Biyiti Bi-Essam…
Vietnamese operator Viettel is to become Cameroon’s third mobile operator, pledging to invest about CFAFr200bn (US$393.9m) in the sector.
Viettel was the winning bidder in the recent government-run tender, telecoms minister Jean Pierre Biyiti Bi-Essam announced. India’s Bharti Airtel, Maroc Telecom and Korea Telecom also bid.
Viettel Cameroon’s licence will see it cover about 81% of the national territory, using 2G and 3G technologies, Bi-Essam said.
Cameroon’s number one and two mobile operators are South Africa’s MTN Group and France Telecom’s Orange respectively. Together, they service about nine million of the nation’s 20 million inhabitants.
Monaco Telecom, Deutsche Telecom and Portugal Telecom were also shortlisted to participate in the tender process but decided to pull out.
Vietnamese state-owned Viettel launched its first African mobile network in Mozambique in May. At the time, the company said it is seeking to expand its presence in the continent.
