In May 2011, YooMee, a subsidiary of 4G Africa AG, recently launched 4G services in Douala, Cameroon and Yaounde, Cameroon.The company touted affordable mobile or desktop Internet service with speeds up to 640 kbit/s (more than double the average market offering). An interview with Anat Bar-Gera (Chairperson of 4G Africa AG) made by INSEAD during a global entrepreneurship forum rehashes much of the YooMee press release announcing service in Cameroon, but provides some interesting tidbits on WiMAX (and eventually LTE) service for Africa:

• Douala, Cameroon  (2 million+ population) was covered with WiMAX in 5 months, using 45 base stations.
• WiMAX is currently part of 4G, but there is an assumption that it will be adopted into LTE in the future.
• Not public spectrum – need regulatory approval and committal that you will cover nation.
• 4G Africa’s mission is to provide state-of-the-art affordable wireless Internet to people & businesses of SSA.
• First country is Cameroon (didn’t specify which nation is next on 4G Africa’s radar).
• The YooMee website saw 600 Cameroonian visitors on day following 4G launch.
• For reference, there are 220,000 Facebook users in Cameroon.
• 1% broadband in Africa.
• Committed to closing digital divide. People get an idea of how fast they can actually send emails.
• In future, will show people how they can produce local content and generate income using online means.

Interesting how 4G Africa AG publicly has two bottom lines: one for making profit and the other for closing the digital divide.