New phone numbering to pave way for lower prices - Experts

Mobile phone numbers in Cameroon will all begin with a '6' from mid-night of 21st November, in a move that will eventuality make intra-network pricing difficult and thus pave the way for number portability.

After a few months, subscribers will literally focus less on the operator providing service and dial exactly the number they seek to call. City codes, which became redundant with the introduction of the wireless fixed phone by Cameroon Telecommunications (CAMTEL) are also being eliminated for landline numbers, which will now begin with a '2'.

Across mobile and fixed services, phone numbers are also migrating from eight to nine digits to accommodate the expected growth in subscription numbers with the planned arrival of a fourth mobile operator.

Analysts expect prices to fall eventually as operators concentrate on value-added services to stay ahead of the competition.

Telecommunications officials first announced the changes about a year ago but no reasons were given for the delay, even though the late arrival of the third operator Nexttel is believed to have been a factor.

The numbering changes will not be automatic thus users will have to manually make changes in their address books, said Jean-Pierre Biyiti bi Essam, the minister of post and telecommunications.

The next step is expected to be the announcement of number portability, which will allow cell phone subscribers to keep their number when they switch operators. Subscribers are currently forced to carry along several cellphones to take advantages of preferential pricing when calling within the same network. Discussions about the move have been on for several years but main operators MTN Cameroon and Orange Cameroon have resisted the innovation.

Cameroon currently has about 16 million mobile phone subscribers, about three-quarters of the national population. MTN Cameroon controls more than half the market with more than 10 million active subscribers, way ahead of its main competitor Orange Cameroun.

Nexttel introduced the country’s first 3G network in September this year and all major operators are likely to switch to the more advanced network technology when Nexttel’s exclusive rights expire in 2015.

In September, CAMTEL was granted the country’s fourth mobile license but the state-run company is yet to make concrete announcements about a launch date and the quality of network it will introduce.