Spillovers from the win-win partnership with Orange Cameroun are expected to affect employment positively.

The government of Cameroon and the mobile telephone company “Orange Cameroun” have affirmed that the mobile telecommunications sector continues to offer unprecedented opportunities for economic growth in both developed and developing markets.

The country’s development drive is so pressing that each opportunity is seemingly being exploited especially at a time mobile services have become an essential part of how economies work and function.

The Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Jean Pierre Biyiti bi Essam, and Orange Cameroon’s General Manager, Elisabeth Medou Badang were unanimous in Yaounde on 13 March, 2014 that Cameroon’s Gross Domestic Product must be triggered and this can only be done by an increased Internet penetration with speedy services.

Government through Jean Pierre Biyiti bi Essam and Finance Minister, Alamine Ousmane Mey, on the one hand and “Orange Cameroun” through Elisabeth Medou Badang on the other hand, agreed to renew the licence of the latter and at the same time offer it a 3G+ concession permit worth FCFA 75 billion paid in three installments.

Government, the minister said, is expecting “a lot of development with an increase in the country’s growth rate.” He however, expressed concern about spillovers from the partnership. The company’s response was quick. Its General Manager said 3G+ was ushering in speedy services which meant “that more transactions were going to be made in lesser time. It was bringing in opportunities in education, business, health and agriculture and Medou Badang rejoiced over her company’s corporate social responsibility in supporting the country’s development drive.

Over 80 per cent of companies in developed economies use social media to recruit and Mobile data has transformed the way in which people connect and work. Given its potential to further impact economic development, Orange Cameroun has had more than 30 towns covered with focus on agglomerations including all State universities.

Although the company waved all concerns about quantifying their perspectives in terms of investments and job-creation, it was however revealed that Orange Cameroun will, like in the past 15 years, scale up its number of direct and indirect jobs in respect of the terms of contract.

The company is working to modernise its network with emphasis on its transmission infrastructure. By 2030, the company is expected to generate additional taxes with an added value to the State budget.

Be it Nexttel, MTN Cameroon or Orange Cameroun, 3G means better communication, working, informing and getting entertainment via mobile internet. With the 2G, document downloads took 5 minutes or more. The 3G offers 1 minute for such downloads while the same documents will take only 24 seconds with 3G+.