By Amindeh Blaise Atabong in Yaounde, with field reports
Cameroon Journal, Yaounde – Government has totally shut down internet connection in the entire North West and South West Regions.
The internet blackout which went into force few hours after a ban on the Southern Cameroons National Council and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium on Tuesday evening was still in effect by the time we took to press.
MTN, Orange, Nexttel and Camtel, the main mobile telephone and internet service providers operating in Anglophone Regions, suspended internet service/connections on behalf of the government. It should be stated that Camtel, a state corporation, is the sole provider of the country’s optical fibre backbone which other internet service providers in the country rely on.
It emerged that government embarked on the internet shutdown apparently to frustrate internet planning and communication through social media amongst the masses after the arrest of the President and Secretary General of the Consortium.
A senior official of the leading telecommunications company in Anglophone regions who pleaded for anonymity said they had acted on the instructions of the government. “Such action falls within the license issued to us, whereby
government can come in once in a while to regulate the sector,” he said. Our source noted that the shutdown is causing them enormous financial losses.
One of the mobile telephone and internet service providers yesterday sent messages to its subscribers attempting to give an explanation to the development. The company said the internet blackout was caused by “circumstances beyond their control.”
In Limbe, Tiko, Mutengene, Menji, Buea, Kumba, Mamfe, Bamenda, Mbengwi, Kumbo, Belo, Ndop, Nkambe, amongst other towns, inhabitants bitterly complained of the inconvenience orchestrated by the blackout.
It should be recalled that in November 2016, after attempts to cut off social media – Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter
in Cameroon failed, Issa Tchirom Bakary, Minister of Communication, embarked on a campaign to cut off internet in the country.
Issa Tchiroma, Communication Minister, we gathered, held a meeting then with top management of MTN, Orange, Nexttel and Camtel asking that the mobile telephone and internet providers in the country suspend internet service/connections for some time.
It is not yet known when internet connectivity would be restored in the Anglophone Regions as concerned authorities will not comment on the issue. However, a senior communication manager with MTN told The Cameroon Journal by phone that they are slowly re-establishing service to its subscribers in the two regions. The manager said those who are not yet reconnected should call the company to be reconnected.
Tuesday’s internet blackout comes after another mobile telecommunication-related campaign by government. Apart from Short Message Services, SMSs, which have in the last couple of days been sent to mobile telephone users cautioning them against spreading fake information through social media networks, the Minister of Post and Telecommunication, Minette Libom Li Likeng, also sounded a warning that culprits of these acts would face the heavy arm of the law.
In a statement published in Cameroon Tribune, Libom said the current campaign of sensitizing mobile telephony subscribers through SMSs on responsible use of the social media falls “within the framework of a campaign initiated by the government through the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication under the high supervision of the Head of State, Paul Biya.”