Cameroon’s Phone Customs Reform Quadruples Revenue in Five Months

Cameroon collected more than CFA1.8 billion in customs duties and taxes on imported mobile phones between April 1 and early September 2026. This is more than four times the roughly CFA400 million collected over the comparable period a year earlier.

The increase follows the introduction on April 1 of a new customs clearance system for phones, tablets and other digital devices. Over its first five months, the system generated an average of about CFA360 million per month. Before the reform, the Directorate General of Customs (DGD) estimated annual revenue from these devices at about CFA1.3 billion.

According to data from the DGD reported by Cameroon Tribune on September 7, about 386,000 phones have also been declared since April 1. The system requires importers, among other measures, to register each device’s International Mobile Equipment Identity, or IMEI, number in the CAMCIS customs system. The identifier allows authorities to determine whether a device connected to a Cameroonian mobile network has been properly cleared through customs.

Since September 1, the reform has entered a new phase under which devices that have not been regularized can be blocked. More than 1,000 phones had already been blocked by the end of the first week of September, according to the source cited by Cameroon Tribune. The measure covers undeclared devices that connect to a local network for the first time, as well as phones connected after April 1 whose users received warning messages but did not regularize their status.

The system relies on cooperation between customs authorities and telecommunications operators. If an IMEI number does not appear in the database of customs-cleared devices, the phone can lose access to mobile networks until its status is regularized. Devices that were already connected to Cameroonian networks before April 1, 2026, are covered by a tax amnesty.

The reform aims in part to recover revenue lost as undeclared imports have grown. Official estimates put annual mobile phone sales in Cameroon at about 4 million units. Historical Finance Ministry data show that customs duties and taxes on the devices generated about CFA25 billion annually between 2001 and 2005, before falling to less than CFA500 million in 2017.

When the new system was launched in March 2026, the DGD said it aimed to raise annual collections to at least CFA25 billion, compared with about CFA1.3 billion previously. The more than CFA1.8 billion collected during the first five months therefore represents a substantial increase, but it is too early to conclude that the annual target can be reached.

At an unchanged monthly average of CFA360 million, collections would amount to about CFA4.3 billion over 12 months. That projection, however, does not account for the potential impact of blocking uncleared devices, which took effect September 1 and which customs authorities expect to encourage importers and device owners to regularize their status.

BRM