India's Bharti Airtel, Monaco Telecom and Vietnam's Viettel are among the companies interested in a new mobile licence in Cameroon, Agence Ecofin reported citing the finance minister and regulator ART. The agency's sources said the interministerial committee examining applications for the third operator licence has already sent its recommendations to the government. While they initially planned to accept the best financial offer, the highest bid was just XAF 15 billion from Bharti Airtel, below the minimum set at XAF 20 billion. The government will now consider whether to start a tender with the three existing applicants or open it up to other possible bidders. The two existing operators in Cameroon are Orange and MTN.
