MTN apologizes for network interruption in Anglophone towns

MTN Cameroon which is leader of the mobile telephony market in Cameroon, has apologized to subscribers in parts of the country where severe disruption of voice, SMS and internet services were interrupted last weekend.

In a statement issued by the company’s CEO, Philisiwe Sibiya, management of the telecoms service provider promised henceforth to ensure permanent availability of voice, SMS and internet on the MTN network across the regions.

According Philisiwe Sibiya, the disruption was caused by “optical fibre cut of the CAMTEL-supplied last mile fibre attributed to MTN along the Bafoussam-Santa leg on Saturday, Decemebr 10 at 6h03mins.”

MTN disclosed that the towns of Bamenda, Kumbo, Nkambe, Ndop, Santa, Bali, Batibo, Wum, Bafoussam, Dschang, Mbounda, Bafang, Bagante, Foumban, Banyo, Tonga, Santchou and Foumbot, were affected by the disruptions.

“The technical team of CAMTEL – optical fibre service provider, and HUAWEI – maintenance partner, were deployed to the site of the incident immediately they were informed of the cut. Assisted by MTN’s engineers, they successfully re-established the optical fibre link in the wee hours of Sunday, December 11 at 5h42mins, after 24 hours of continuous work,” MTN Chief Executive Officer explained.

The company suggested that the cut could have been caused by agricultural activities or civil works on the affected area.

Many customers of the network had feared that the inconsistency of service was as a result of gov’t’s earlier intimidation that it was going to shut down the internet in Anglophone Cameroon during the ongoing sit-down strike action that has seen an escalation of violence leading to deaths.