Military Officers undergoing training at the Yaounde International War College were led by Brigadier General Nka Valère, Commander of the International War College of Yaoundé, to a tour at the CAMTEL central office in Yaounde, July 15, 2024. They were welcomed by the Deputy Director General of CAMTEL, Olle Daniel Désiré, on on behalf of the General Manager of CAMTEL, Judith Yah Sunday Epse Achidi. The tour enabled the officers to be equipped on data protection techniques and approaches in the current context of globalization, modernization and artificial intelligence and also shaped their knowledge about CAMTEL.
The position of CAMTEL was expressed by the Deputy Director General, who said the capacity building on data security offered by CAMTEL to the officers contributes to their skills on the protection of individual data.
In the course of the tour, the war trainees were schooled on different concepts about data collection and processing, data security, ethical and social management, the collaboration between law enforcement and telecommunications and the key achievements of CAMTEL within the past twenty five years.
The presentations were done by Mathilde Mouange, Chief of the
Plannification Department and Raou-Igre Yamra Charles LeBrun,
Chief of the Data Center.
The officers were introduced to the CAMTEL Data center where data management is done with an implemented privacy policy, a center which has implemented a detailed, accessible and up-to-date privacy policy informing customers about data collection and use practices.
The lessons on data security continued with lessons on Artificial intelligence (AI) since AI raises crucial questions regarding the protection of personal data, respect for privacy and compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). CAMTEL’s officials said they handle AI by following a technical-commercial processes to ensure responsible and ethical use. It was noted that, artificial intelligence is a multiplier of development, growth and democratization, provided that it is used ethically thus the development of artificial intelligence in Cameroon requires effective coordination, adequate resources, and political will to ensure that Cameroon can take advantage of the opportunities offered by minimizing the associated risks.
The tour opened the war college to CAMTEL’s achievements in the past 25 years. The works of CAMTEL is measured in digital technology and telecommunications for the structural transformation of the Cameroonian economy, in line with the National Development Strategy. These achievements were listed and the officers were made to know that, CAMTEL manages the 12000 kilometer national optical fiber backbone, which will soon be extended by 4000 kilometers, CAMTEL manages the four landing points of the optical fibre submarine cables which enables Cameroon to be in contact with the entire world, CAMTEL provides optical fiber infrastructure to all operators and a wide range of organizations, CAMTEL holds three operating licenses for fixed-line telephony, mobile telephony, and transport over optical fibre as part of it’s many other achievements. As part of its 25th anniversary, a competition for the best tech developers and start-ups in the digital sector, entitled Blue Tech Challenge, is currently underway.
CAMTEL hopes that the interactions at the training with war trainees would usher some good practices between CAMTEL and the War School.
By Mildred Ndum Wung