Cameroonian billionaire Baba Danpullo at war with Vietnam's Viettel over Nexttel

Vietnam's Viettel Global Investment has asked Cameroonian President Paul Biya to protect its claimed majority stake in Nexttel, the struggling mobile operator at the center of its eight-year dispute with billionaire Baba Ahmadou Danpullo.

In a letter to Biya dated Aug. 25, Viettel said it remains the owner of 70% of Viettel Cameroon, the company that runs the Nexttel brand, three years after it was widely reported to be pulling out of the country.

"Viettel Global remains the legal 70% shareholder of Viettel Cameroon and, as such, retains all shareholder and investor rights linked to the company and its telecommunications activities in Cameroon," the company wrote.

A warning to new investors

The letter asks the Cameroonian government not to recognize any new shareholder, investor or partner who would replace Viettel, directly or indirectly, without its prior written consent or a final ruling by a competent authority. It also asks that no transfer, renewal or major change to Viettel Cameroon's operating license be approved if it could harm Viettel's rights.

Timing is a big part of the request. According to Viettel, Nexttel's current license expires in December 2027. The company asked Biya to make sure that decisions by the government and the telecoms regulator protect its interests until the dispute is finally settled.

The move upends the widely held view that Viettel had walked away from Cameroon. Since 2023, Nexttel has been looking for new partners, and other investors have shown interest, including Madagascar's Axian Telecom.

Viettel said it remains "committed to Cameroon" and that it is ready to give the authorities all the documents needed to support its claims.

A partnership that broke down in 2018

Viettel and Bestinver Cameroon, Danpullo's investment vehicle, teamed up in the early 2010s to launch Cameroon's third mobile operator. Viettel held 70% and Bestinver held 30%. Nexttel began commercial service in 2014 and quickly took customers from MTN and Orange, the two dominant operators, partly by building its network in areas the others served poorly. By 2017, it had about 4.5 million subscribers. Viettel had put nearly 201 billion CFA francs into the business through equity, shareholder loans and other funding.

From 2018, the two shareholders fell out over governance and operational control, and the dispute moved into the courts. Bestinver went to Cameroonian courts, while Viettel pointed to a clause in their shareholder agreement that sends disputes to the Singapore International Arbitration Centre. After a series of conflicting rulings in Cameroon, Viettel took the case to the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration of OHADA, the business law organization shared by 17 African countries.

On July 11, 2024, that court overturned decisions by the Littoral Court of Appeal and confirmed that the arbitration clause applied. It restored a ruling by the Wouri High Court in Douala, which had declined jurisdiction in favor of arbitration. The decision did not settle who ultimately owns the disputed stakes, and Viettel is now relying on that open question to ask the authorities not to recognize anyone who might replace it.

An operator in decline

While its owners fought, Nexttel lost most of its customers. In 2021, Posts and Telecommunications Minister Minette Libom Li Likeng described the company as almost insolvent, with about 60 billion CFA francs of debt, and said its active subscriber base had fallen to about 2.8 million. In May 2023, Cameroon's telecoms regulator fined Viettel and Nexttel 1.6 billion CFA francs for repeatedly failing to meet coverage and service quality obligations.

Viettel's renewed claim adds a new obstacle for anyone hoping to buy or revive Nexttel before its license comes up for renewal.

Danpullo, who has built a fortune in property, telecoms and cattle ranching, is one of Central Africa's best-known businessmen. Nexttel is one of several legal battles he has fought with foreign partners, including a long dispute with South Africa's First National Bank over a property loan.