COMMUNIQUÉ No. 09Yaoundé, 16 April 2026CLARIFICATION BY CAMTEL FOLLOWING THE INCIDENT THAT OCCURRED DURING THE BROADCAST AT THE UNITY PALACE OF THE PAPAL VISIT TO CAMEROON

CAMTEL

COMMUNIQUÉ No. 09

Yaoundé, 16 April 2026

CLARIFICATION BY CAMTEL FOLLOWING THE INCIDENT THAT OCCURRED DURING THE BROADCAST AT THE UNITY PALACE OF THE PAPAL VISIT TO CAMEROON

A press release issued by the Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV) sought to identify the cause of the interruption of the live broadcast of the speech of His Holiness Pope Leon XIV on Wednesday, 15 April 2026 at the Unity Palace, claiming an alleged unavailability of the optical fiber and instability of the internet network, both owned and managed by CAMTEL.

CAMTEL informs the public that no unavailability of its infrastructure nor any failure of its network was recorded. In fact, technical data provided by teams deployed on the field, in collaboration with the administrations and organizations involved in preparing this historic event welcoming the Pope to Cameroon, indicate that no fiber optic link was cut and no technical fault affected CAMTEL’s infrastructure or its internal network during the incident.

Technical checks carried out show that the interruption resulted from technological choices made by CRTV, which opted not to use the CAMTEL network as the main broadcasting medium:

At Nsimalen Airport and along the route to the Unity Palace, CRTV broadcast using its own satellite system (Fly Away), leaving optical fiber as a backup solution.

At the Unity Palace, the broadcast relied on a TVU system, a device using mobile internet data from other local operators, as indicated by the “TVU” label visible on the broadcast screen. The main signal therefore did not pass through optical fiber.

Furthermore, CAMTEL’s Network Supervision Center did not detect any malfunction of the fiber optic network. Therefore, no repair work on the fiber network was required, which normally would take at least ten (10) minutes. Moreover, such an incident, if linked to fiber optics, would have affected signals of other users and TV channels, not just CRTV. Other users of optical fiber, including the CRTV PRC, continued broadcasting without interruption.

While deploring the public and hasty accusation made against it without prior technical verification, CAMTEL reassures the public and all users of its infrastructure of its capacity to provide the expected quality of service. It also reiterates that exceptional measures and significant resources were deployed to strengthen service delivery across all sites concerned by the Papal Visit to Cameroon.

Furthermore, the company remains fully available to the Public Authorities and CRTV to carry out a joint technical audit in order to establish the truth of the facts.

THE DIRECTOR GENERAL

(Signed)

Mrs. Judith Yah Sunday