Cameroon’s national telecommunications company Camtel has reached a strategic partnership agreement with MTN GlobalConnect, the digital wholesale and infrastructure services company of MTN Group.

The protocol agreement, signed recently by the General Manager of Camtel Judith Yah Sunday Achidi and MTN GlobalConnect CEO Frédéric Schepens, paves the way for MTN GlobalConnect to commercialise Camtel’s four submarine cables to the international market.

Camtel enjoys monopoly in the management of submarine fibre optic cable landing stations as well as the deployment and management of the national fibre optic backbone.

Camtel presently has access rights to four subsea cables, viz: West Africa Cable System (WACS); South Atlantic Telecommunications cable N°3 south Africa East (SAT3); Nigeria-Cameroon Submarine Cable System (NCSCS) which runs from Kribi in Cameroon to the MainOne landing station in Lagos - Nigeria; and South Atlantic Inter Link (SAIL).

These submarine cables are central to connectivity in the sub-region and it is expected that MTN GlobalConnect will leverage this to target the West and Central African market. Operators in Nigeria, Chad, Gabon, amongst others are in view.

As a Pan-African company, Schepens said MTN GlobalConnect is keen on engaging partnerships which support the African developmental agenda. “By working closely with Camtel, we are delighted to be part of Cameroon’s digital journey and leverage their extensive fibre network in Cameroon and in turn grow our fibre railway ambitions for Africa.”

Achidi said the partnership is a significant boost to Cameroon’s digital economy plan and will also go a long way to increase monetisation of the country’s submarine fibre optic assets, in line with the goal of turning Cameroon into the digital hub of Central Africa.

The recent partnership agreement relates to an MoU signed in April 2021 between Camtel and MTN Group’s Cameroonian subsidiary by which MTN ceded its wholesale internet segment to Camtel.