How Camtel is losing grounds due to lack of innovation.

Is there a possibility I can pay for these services without necessarily coming here? I asked.

NO!!! was the emphatic answer from the staff at the cash desk.

Why? I followed up. How soon before this is possible?

Very soon was the reply. Not so impressed as I didn’t find it comfortable having to go to this company each time to pay internet bills in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. That was in March 2020 when first case of COVID 19 was detected in Cameroon and distancing measures kicked in with closure of schools, bars, reduction in capacity of transport vehicles etc. Fast forward and we are in October 2020, 8 months on and I still don’t have the possibility to my Camtel bills from my phone or on click; a telecoms company.

This kept me wondering; but this is a pioneer telecom company in Cameroon, monopoly provider of Internet via Optic Fiber and state owned with unlimited resources to invest in these solutions. Why not embrace FinTech solutions in this digital age?

The state owned company was the monopoly provider of telecom services in Cameroon via landlines from independence till the liberalization of the telecom sector in 2000 which saw the granting of Mobile phone licenses to South African based MTN and French based Mobilis which later changed to Orange 2002 following the global acquisition of Mobilis by Orange.

This immediately revolutionized the telecom sector in Cameroon. With the convenience that has been provided by mobile phones, Camtel has seen its subscription rate eroded over the years, mostly being relegated to office lines at the reception particularly diplomatic missions and in state institutions.

Realizing the dangerous trajectory in which it was, the company with a deep state purse decided to take some measures.

Failed attempt at entering the mobile sector. In 2006, Camtel launched what it called the Citi Phone in an attempt to challenge MTN and Orange but the product failed almost immediately it was launched. Several factors account for this.

·      The name of the product itself was self-destructive. Citi Phone literally meant it was for the citi dwellers. In an age where people needed to communicate more with those in the hinterlands, the camtel citi phone product did not go (barely went) beyond the cardinal points of the main cities of Douala and Yaounde which could not provide enough market to sustain the product.

·      Restrictive nature of the sim cards. The sim cards could only be used in customized phones phones compared to the MTN and Orange whose sim cards could be inserted in any standard phone on offer. This strategy effectively damaged the ability of the product to penetrate the mass market. The product, aimed for the mass market had an elitist status as you could only use the camtel sims on a custom camtel citi phone.

·      Another problem was the quality of the phones. Many users complained of the enormous heat generated by the phone after about 3 minutes on phone. The phones made in China were of very low quality so much so that they heated up too fast.

·      Camtel basically failed in building the perception needed for product success through a poor name for the product, low quality product, poor placing or positioning and a low penetration rate.

Despite being the monopoly provider of internet bandwidth to other telecom companies, Camtel still lags behind. Their virtual absence in the mobile phone business is a hindrance.

This lack of innovation is costing the company in several ways; low recovery rate of bills, high cost of bill collection through follow-up calls, loss of revenue due to absence in the mobile payment market.

While the ongoing pandemic tested, challenged established norms of doing business, the biggest winners are those who saw the opportunity to innovate and promptly took advantage off.

Camtel would need to join the “One Click” trend to catch up.

A deep state purse with no strategy to challenge in today’s business world is no guarantee for success. Just ask Camair-Co.