The Bank of Central African States (BEAC) has just summoned mobile telephone operators to end the use or operation of telephone credit units in CFA Francs, to avoid confusion with legal tender in force in the member states of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).
In correspondence to the president of the Association of Mobile Telephone Operators in Cameroon, the Governor of the Bank of Central African States, Abbas Mahamat Tolli, banned the use of telephone credit units as a means of payment for these services.
“Communication credits are a commodity, a product or a service which is only used for telephone services and which, even if they have a market value, are not means of payment or currency”, specifies the Governor of the BEAC, stressing that “they are created by companies that are not payment service providers authorized to issue and manage means of payment”.
This development by the central bank aims to avoid any deviation from the regulations in force, but also any presentation, use or exploitation of telephone credit units in CFA francs. This is likely to cause confusion with the legal tender in force in the Member States. “Telephone credit units are therefore not, in the state of the applicable Community regulations, neither fiat money nor electronic money nor an instrument or means of payment”, ruled the Central Bank.
Indeed, when a subscriber queries his communication credit balance, it is displayed on the screen “Balance: 123 F”, “Bonus: 456” F. For the Central Bank, it is necessary to find another unit than the FCFA.
