15 Feb 2015

Orange Botswana has added yet another innovative network technology to its services; the 4G service.

Speaking at launch of this “Fourth Generation” wireless network technology on February 13, Orange Botswana chief executive officer, Dr Patrick Benon said 4G network technology was a super-fast and seamless mobile communication platform that succeeded 3G plus.

“Orange 4G is not simply an evolution, it’s a revolution,” he added. With Orange 4G, Dr Benon said customers would go far much faster than 3G, as they would be able to; watch a Hi-Definition movie in streaming mode, implement Cloud computing solutions that are going to optimize the way they run their businesses and have high quality video conferences. 

Orange 4G, he said was going to change the way their customers interacted with the digital world, as it was a mobile communications standard intended to replace 3G, 3G + and 2G- allowing wireless Internet access at a much higher speed, as it speeds up to five times faster than 3G.

Currently, Orange Botswana CEO said Orange 4G network was live and functional in Gaborone, as it was the first city to be covered with 4G. He said Palapye, Maun and Francistown would be covered by the end of February 2015.

This, he said was only a start as the 4G network would continue to grow stronger and wider by the day. Orange Botswana, Dr Benon said had invested heavily on this network and acknowledged that new technologies or new services normally attracted additional costs. However, he noted with gratitude that their customers would not incur any additional costs for using 4G connectivity.

“The existing data prices will apply to the usage of 4G. All you need to do to access Orange 4G network is to ensure that you have a 4G compatible handset, as well as 4G simcard- which are available in Orange shops,” he added. 

He said customers only needed to swap their existing simcards out for a 4G simcard at any Orange shop. This new 4G service, Dr Benon said was set to offer timely boost to the local economy- offering firms the opportunity to increase innovation, boost productivity and cut costs, as had been the experience of companies in countries, such as; United Kingdom, United States of America, Sweden, Japan, Germany and South Africa since the technology was first introduced.

The service allows users to; access the web on the go in an instant, download large e-mail attachments quicker than ever, watch live television on the move without buffering, download high-definition movies in minutes, play live multiplayer games on the go and make high quality video calls on the move. 

These ICT evolutions, Dr Benon said were only possible when there was an ambitious and open minded government towards the ICT sector. Therefore, he thanked the Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority and the government of Botswana for making this possible.

When he joined Orange Botswana in December 2014, Dr Benon said he made a number of promises to the board of directors and intended to fulfill them, as his plan was to make Orange Botswana the most innovative operator. 

These promises, which he said represented his priorities as Orange Botswana CEO, are as follows; to bring the best in terms of innovation in Botswana, to deliver the best customer experience, to develop the skills and the leadership of Orange employees and to give back to the community and serve the country.

For his part, Orange Botswana board member, Mr Joshua Galeforolwe, said hardly three month into the job, Dr Benon was already delivering to Batswana a new dawn and revolution in mobile internet service, adding that this groundbreaking technology and innovation would bring Botswana to a new dawn in internet service provision. Dr Benon, Mr Galeforolwe said was a telecommunication engineer by profession and brings with him a wealth of experience from the telecommunication business and ICT industry.

Orange Botswana CEO’s experience, Mr Galeforolwe said spans over 15 years during which he held both operational and strategic positions in various entities.

Before joining Orange Botswana, he said Dr Benon had been CEO of Orange in Central African Republic for over three years. Furthermore, Mr Galeforolwe said prior to that Dr Benon was CEO of Benin Telecoms, a state owned Telecommunications Corporation for over four years, after he was promoted from the position of Deputy CEO of Benin Telecoms.

Therefore, he said Orange Botswana “will not only benefit from the international exposure that Dr Benon brings, but the extraordinary milestones he has achieved gives us even more confidence that he will bring a lot of positive changes to Orange Botswana.” 

“As the Board of Orange Botswana, we are particularly enthused to have a man of his experience in talent development and we await with interest his impact in this area, which has eluded us hitherto,” he added. ENDS