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Infos Business of Tuesday, 30 September 2014

Source: Cameroon Tribune

"The game of the market influences communication rates, not the regulator”

One of the missions of ART is to "define the principles to govern the pricing of the services provided”. According to an official, 'ART guides and frame rates depending on the costs of the operator'. Among other electrical energy, installation equipment, rental of infrastructure, the extension of the network to other locations, the tax customs and other taxes, over all this is expensive for the operator, which raises the prices of communication, in order to naturally manage its expenses and make a profit. After the regulator, pricing depends on the cost of expenditures for the operator, which would be high.

According to a source "it is the game of the market which influences the rates of communication, and not the regulator, who ensures however that the operators do not exceed a certain cost". And in this competitive environment, the costs of interconnection, covered by private operators, conventions are a good indicator for the controller. “The more interconnection prices is lower, the more rates of intra networks should also follow”.

However, since 2000, date at which the two leading mobile operators were launched, communication costs have actually declined. ART reported that whether MTN or orange, network access fees increased from 20,000 in 2001 to 2500 F in 2010. Today, chips are sold at auction, for 500 F at most.

Pricing per minute and per zone has been introduced in the meantime and it is now at an average of 1F per second, either 60F per minute.