21 Sep 2014

Orange Botswana says it has secured jobs for 27 of the 29 employees whose jobs were outsourced at Eriscson, the same company that jobs were outsourced to.

Briefing the media on the ITN transformation project that the company undertook, Director of Corporate Affairs at Orange Botswana Ms Lepata Mafa said the technical transformation project aims to optimise the network and IT operations of Orange Botswana.

She said 29 employees out of the 85 in the technical department were impacted by the transformation and the process was guided by Botswana’s labour regulations.

Ms Mafa said as part of negotiations with Ericson, Orange Botswana secured jobs for all employees whose positions were outsourced and also secured similar remuneration packages for all employees affected.

“ The outsourcer offered all affected employees employment but one employee opted out and another secured a position within Orange Botswana,” she said, adding that as of now 27 employees are working with Ericson as of September 2014 with similar or better benefits as compared to what they were being offered at Orange Botswana.

She indicated that throughout different stages of the process, all relevant stakeholders were engaged. She further said the transformation exercise will facilitate and fast track the objectives that were set out by the company, among them improved quality of service and enhanced customer experience, developing and maintaining of key competencies and improved operational performance.

Speaking on reasons why the transformation project was launched, Ms Mafa said global and local environment in telecommunications are changing rapidly with increasingly stiff competition.

“We need to adapt to meet current and future customer needs,” she said.

She explained that Orange offers a growing range of innovative services that require infrastructures and equipment whose complexity is increasing rapidly.

“This requires increasingly sophisticated skills as well as emerging new skills and anticipating changes in telecommunications usage and management of the business also involves a focus on efficient cost management and optimisation where possible,” she said.

Ms Mafa said there is a growing trend of similar approach among mobile operators elsewhere who continue to mutualise their technical operations and engage on managed services contracts with relevant suppliers.

She further said as a result of the transformation, Orange has developed a robust Service Management Centre (SMC) whose role will be to ensure that service is closely monitored and resolution of network related complaints are undertaken efficiently end to end.

She said the SMC will coordinate all network complaints, launch of new products and monitor and analyse network quality of service.

“Initially the division had four (4) employees but due to the transformation 13 positions were created dedicated to ensuring best in class levels of quality of service and customer experience,” she said.

She also said a new position of Partner Management has also been created to ensure that partners deliver on their mandate and maintains the highest levels of network performance.

“The team will undergo specialised training in Poland to improve their competency and skills,” she said. ENDS