Telcos explain interruptions in internet services

On November 17, 2014, some areas experienced interruptions with regards to internet connection, while telephone calls encountered little or no serious transmission issues. Throughout the day, Camtel, MTN and Orange internet networks have experienced disturbances in some parts of the country beginning from Sunday 16th November.

The biggest interruption has however been observed on the internet network of Camtel, the public operator which has the monopoly on the management of fibre optic in the country.

'Numbers starting with 22 could connect but the problem was more common with numbers starting with 33, which are managed from the Douala server with which we had a few difficulties", indicated a technician of the company.

According to the various operators, these disturbances are tests and other preliminary work to the failover across the Cameroonian territory from November 21, 2014, towards the 9-digit numbers.

This operation will address the saturation of telephone lines experienced in the country since 2012, noted the Ministry of posts and telecommunications.

Indeed, the first test took place November 14, 2014 for the switch to the 9-digit numbers. That day, the (ART) telecoms regulatory agency warned against "disturbances on the networks of operators', between 11:00 pm and 3:00 am the next morning. But however, this disturbances lasted almost 48 hours, most importantly only on the Internet.