(Ecofin Agency) - The conflict between Orange Cameroon and Camtel, the public telecommunication operator which holds the monopoly over the optic fiber’s management, seems to have come to an end. Indeed, in a mail sent on October 18, 2017, to the minister of posts and telecommunication, Elisabeth Medou Badang, the managing director of Orange Cameroon, confirmed the payment of the CFA1.6 billion that Camtel reclaimed. Let’s remind that the public telecommunication operator cut access to some of Orange’s optical fibers connections, as a repressive measure against non-payment of the debt.

In an official statement published on October 18, the managing director of Cameroon’s subsidiary of the French telecom operator clarified that the payment of this invoice disputed since the start of the conflict with Camtel “is by no mean an acknowledgment” by Orange Cameroon “of the validity of the mentioned invoice that it still contests”. The statement also explained that, in this regard, the company “plans to undertake every relevant action to preserve its rights and those of its subscribers"

This, looks more like the starting point of an arbitration, by the telecommunication regulatory body, on the actual roots of the disputed invoice, which is at the source of the conflict between Orange Cameroon and Camtel. Indeed, the regulatory body in a mail, on October 9, decided that the measure taken, by Camtel, to cut a telecommunication operator’s access to optical fiber network was illegal. Despite this, the incumbent telecommunication operator in Cameroon ignored the regulator’s order, which was to restore the Orange Cameroon’s access to the infrastructure.

BRM