MTN Cameroon is progressing well with its strategy to achieve 100% network coverage, according to the company’s CEO Mitwa Ng’ambi.

Ng’ambi commented after the company secured a local roaming deal with Cameroon Telecommunications (Camtel) earlier this month.

The telco currently operates 2G, 3G and 4G networks which cover 97.35%, 87.58% and 60% of the country’s population respectively, and is eager to fill the remaining 2.65% gap of its 2G network to achieve full national coverage.

“We are constantly making efforts to expand it (the network) beyond where we are today," said Ng’ambi.

The network infrastructure sharing deal, which also relies on technical support from Huawei, will allow Camtel subscribers to automatically access MTN network service, where the Camtel network is not available.

Camtel customers can send and receive national and international SMS, send and receive national and international calls, and internet access on the MTN network using their Camtel SIM cards.

The deal, the first B2B roaming agreement within the Cameroon telecommunications industry, covers 250 sites, to be “progressively expanded” as per agreement between both companies.

General Manager of Camtel, Judith Yah Sunday espe Achidi said: “This is a very good initiative. It is definitely going to be beneficial to the end user because the government is supporting network infrastructure. So, instead of having duplications, the sharing will reduce the cost for customers as the operators mutualise their resources and offer the same services.”

Market analysts agree the deal will strengthen Camtel’s competitive advantage, which they point out is critical as it has just 3% share of the country’s telecommunications market, and has been overtaken by competitors MTN Cameroon, Orange Cameroun and Viettel (Nexttel).