Camtel Scales Back SIM Card Tender After Initial Failure

Cameroon Telecommunications (Camtel) has relaunched its SIM card procurement project after the first tender was declared unsuccessful. In an international tender issued on July 20, 2026, the state-owned operator is seeking 854,225 SIM cards under a contract estimated at CFA500 million. The volume is nearly 63% lower than in the tender launched four months earlier, while the estimated budget is unchanged.

The new tender covers 700,000 pre-numbered GSM/UMTS/LTE SIM cards and 154,225 blank cards to be customized to meet the operator’s commercial needs. According to the tender documents, the procurement is intended to help Camtel expand its mobile subscriber base and increase revenue.

Camtel will finance the contract from its 2026 budget. The tender is open to Cameroonian and foreign companies specializing in information technology and mobile networks. Bidders must provide a CFA10 million bid bond and a deposit receipt issued by Cameroon’s Caisse des dépôts et consignations.

Bids must be submitted by 9 a.m. on August 24, 2026, and will be opened an hour later. The selected supplier will have four calendar months from receipt of the notice to proceed to deliver the cards.

First Tender for 2.3 Million SIM Cards Declared Unsuccessful

The new tender replaces an earlier procurement rather than adding to it. Camtel initially launched a tender on March 24, 2026, for 2,300,600 SIM cards, including 1.85 million pre-numbered cards and 450,600 blank cards. The specifications required all the cards to support 5G. The estimated budget was also CFA500 million.

Camtel declared the tender unsuccessful on June 8. Only one company submitted a bid, but it failed to provide the CFA10 million bid bond and the required receipt from the Caisse des dépôts et consignations and was therefore disqualified.

The relaunch reduces the number of cards sought from 2,300,600 to 854,225, a decline of 62.9%, without lowering the estimated budget. Based solely on the number of cards, the theoretical average budget per card rises from about CFA217 in the first tender to CFA585 in the new one, nearly 2.7 times the previous figure.

That comparison does not, however, establish that actual costs have increased. The available documents do not indicate whether the two contracts cover exactly the same customization, programming, security, packaging and delivery services. More importantly, unlike the March tender, the new notice refers to GSM/UMTS/LTE cards without explicitly requiring 5G compatibility.

Maintaining the same budget despite the steep reduction in volume raises questions about the scope and pricing of the new contract. The actual procurement cost will become clear only after the contract is awarded and the winning bid is disclosed.

Camtel Remains a Minor Player Behind Orange and MTN

The tender comes as Camtel seeks to strengthen its position in a highly concentrated mobile market. According to the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency’s 2024 Observatory report, Cameroon’s mobile market generated about CFA631 billion in revenue and had more than 31.5 million active subscriptions. The regulator said Orange Cameroon and MTN Cameroon continued to dominate the market.

Orange and MTN together accounted for 97.34% of mobile revenue in 2024. Orange held a 50.08% share and MTN 47.26%, compared with just 2.67% for Camtel. The state-owned operator therefore generated about CFA16 billion in mobile revenue from a market worth CFA630.9 billion.

The gap in active subscriptions was similarly large. Camtel had about 1.23 million active mobile subscriptions, compared with nearly 14 million for Orange and 12.8 million for MTN. These figures refer to active subscriptions or SIM cards rather than individual customers, as one person may hold several SIM cards.

The number of cards covered by the July tender is equivalent to nearly 70% of Camtel’s active mobile subscription base in 2024. If all the cards were distributed, they could support a substantial increase in the number of lines offered to customers. That would not, however, guarantee that the lines remain active or generate revenue.

SIM Cards Alone Will Not Deliver Market Share Gains

Camtel is also investing in infrastructure to narrow the gap with the two market leaders. In January 2026, the company signed a CFA44.884 billion syndicated financing agreement with a group of banks led by Commercial Bank Cameroon. The financing will support the first phase of the Mobile Network Expansion project, which aims to reduce congestion on existing infrastructure and extend 2G, 3G and 4G coverage in cities, economic zones and selected rural communities. The overall program is valued at CFA52.2 billion.

Network expansion and SIM card availability are closely linked. A larger stock of cards can support customer acquisition campaigns and ensure distributors have sufficient supplies. Turning those cards into active and profitable subscriptions will nevertheless depend on network coverage, voice and data quality, pricing, customer service and distribution.

The relaunched tender reflects Camtel’s efforts to gain market share, but it also points to difficulties in implementing its procurement program. The operator must first award the contract and ensure that it is carried out. Its ability to compete with Orange and MTN will ultimately depend less on the number of cards it purchases than on how many become active, revenue-generating subscriptions.

Frédéric Nonos