Cameroon Consumer Protection Agency drags Orange, MTN to court over poor services

This complaint is also motivated by widespread expression of discontent from users about unjustified call interruptions, the out-of-network situation, and the retention of sums of money in accounts, among others. A state of affairs that contributes to slowing down commercial activity and other chaotic incidents

The Cameroon Consumer Protection Agency, known by its French acronym FOCACO, has filed a legal complaint against the country’s two major telecommunications operators, Orange and MTN, over poor services.

The general coordinator of FOCACO, Nkoulou Engoulou Lilian, signed the complaint that was filed at the Mfoudi High Court in Yaounde on Thursday.

The association said the two network operators have remained ‘careless’ over the quality of services provided to Cameroonians, despite public complaints.

“For the past few weeks, Cameroonians have been helplessly suffering from mobile network disruptions that would be linked to the poor maintenance of submarine cables and fiber optic devices,” the association said.

“The network coverage is not optimal, as well as the internet connection speed.”

“This complaint is also motivated by widespread expression of discontent from users about unjustified call interruptions, the out-of-network situation, and retention of sums of money in accounts, among others. A state of affairs that contributes to slowing down commercial activity and other chaotic incidents,” revealed an MMI French reporter.

It noted that the complainant is motivated by multiple complaints by service users about call disruptions, network failures, and slow Internet service.

FOCACO’s action came after an “operation flight mode”, a protest action by network users that started on Monday, whereby users switched their phones to flight mode for some hours to express discontent.

The operation was quickly followed by an emergency meeting organised by Posts and Telecommunications Minister with representatives of the network operators in Yaounde on Thursday, April 27.