What did MTN/Orange lose within two hours of boycott by users?
By Pavel Joseph
The boycott intended to express dissatisfaction over poor telecommunication services provided by MTN and Orange Cameroon, started on Monday, April 24.
Several Cameroonians mobilized their peers to switch their mobile devices to airplane mode between 12 noon and 2:00 pm. How many people respected the call? And what impact did the protest really have on the telephone networks?
Those are questions that everyone has probably been asking themselves.
Speaking to Ngufor Marcel, a telecommunication expert, he said “Within those two hours, the networks lost a lot financially. Imagine the number of people who make calls every second, the mobile money transactions, that is much money lost within just two hours.
“The effect could also depend on the number of people who respected the boycott. However, I don’t think it affected the flow of services in any way” he added.
Close to 20 million Cameroonians are subscribed to MTN and Orange services altogether. In a situation where the boycott was fully respected, it could have cost the companies millions.
CNA tried to get the exact figures of how much was lost within the said time interval.
“Only those who work directly on it can provide such KPI” personnel at MTN Douala told CNA reluctantly.
The Cameroon News Agency has reached out to MTN Cameroon for comment.
According to annual statistics published by the company’s headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa, the over 10 million users in Cameroon, generate an estimated 200 billion FCFA in a year, giving an average turnover of at least 500 million FCFA per day, and around 20 million FCFA per hour. The two hours boycott between Monday and Wednesday at the time of this report means the company could have lost about 120 million FCFA. But these statistics cannot be fully rational giving that the number of people who boycotted from the 10 million users is not known.
As for the Orange company, Cameroon alongside a few other African countries and some in the Middle East, are considered as the highest contributors to the France-based group’s revenue.
Out of the 26 countries where the company is present, 18 are in Africa and the Middle East.
