Mobile operator MTN Cameroon says an additional 1.3 million connections were registered on its network in 2013 while the company consolidated its market share leadership in the country.

According to a company statement, this follows the acquisition of Camtel Mobile in 2000.

“MTN has equally become the highest contributor to the state with roughly 600 billion FCFA of taxes and duties paid, since 2000,” says the statement.

Meanwhile, MTN Cameroon adds that as of 30 September 2013, it had 8.2 million subscribers with a 57% market share in the country.

Cameroon has two other mobile operators: Orange and Vietnam’s Viettel, which has been late to enter the market.

However, while MTN Cameroon sings its own praises, experts say a historic lack of competition has resulted in a suppressed mobile market in the country.

“The result of the restrictive market structure has been a mobile market penetration rate below the African average and also below that of other countries with similar GDP per capita levels,” says BuddeComm research on its writeup of Cameroon’s telecoms market.

According to BuddeComm, at the end of 2013, Cameroon had a mobile penetration rate of 69%. Cameroon has a population of 21.7 million, say World Bank figures.