17 Feb 2015

Mascom Wireless, one of the first cellular phone operators in the country, launched its 17-year anniversary in style by looking at 17 facts of what makes it the leading network provider in the country.

It has been 17 years since cellular network was provided in the country and today, Mascom has a 52 per cent market share which the company chief executive officer said resulted from innovation.

“We aim to be the first to bring new products and services to the Botswana market,” Mr Jose Vieira Couceiro said in Gaborone recently. He, however, added that they had more than 1.7 million subscribers.

Other than providing network services, Mascom is also involved in community projects such as sporting activities as it has sponsored football, horse racing, athletics, motor sport and the Gaborone 2014 Africa Youth Games.

The company also supports the arts, culture and music among the events being My Star, Thapong Artist of the Year, Mascom Live Sessions and Maitisong President’s Concert.

Mascom had, in response to the Presidential Housing Appeal, built 22 houses in Ramotlabaki, Molepolole, Gamodubu, Tsolamosese and Bobonong.

Another fact that Mascom takes pride in is that 99 per cent of 300 workforce are Batswana and the technical division, which is the largest and core of its operations employs only Batswana.

The company in partnership with the government has promoted entrepreneurship in the country by establishing 41 Kitsong Centres through NTELETSA II Rural Telecommunications Project and today, there are a total of 81 such centres countrywide.

“The Kitsong Center comprises of a branded Porta-cabin equipped with computers, printers, copiers and Data cards. These Centres are then handed to a carefully selected youth to operate as their own business,” he said.

They provide essential services to communities around the country such as email and internet, mobile money, airtime and simcard sales as well as printing and photocopying.

Talking about the network, he said their network was 100 per cent EDGE Data enabled and they cover 70 per cent of the population with 3G. “By 2006, our network was 100 per cent EDGE enabled. We were the first operator to provide data access at the magnitude,” he said.

Mascom was the first to introduce 3G in 2008 at 7.2 Megabits and 21 Megabits per second. 
“By March 2015, we are targeting another 38 villages to be covered by 3G. To date any village or city with more than 5000 people is covered by 3G,” he said.

Another service that has a record number of customers is My Zaka which enables Mascom users to have a convenient, secure and affordable way of managing money through the use of cellular phones. Again, the service was introduced in the country by Mascom in 2011 and today there are 137 000 customers.

“Mascom is the only telecommunications provider in Botswana that is ISO Certified for Quality and Environment Standards. What this means is that, in delivering our products and services we adhere to strict national and international quality and environmental standards,” he said.

The Mascom Innovation Centre is among Africa’s best and has won numerous awards including The Best Builder Award in Botswana by PPC Cement Annual Awards. It was also awarded the Highly Commended prize for Best Projects 2011 in Africa by Construction News Magazine.

The company has also been able to deploy its own transmission backbone and a fibre route between Tlokweng border and Ramokgwebana borner intended to serve villages and towns along the road.

“We have also employed metro fibre to cover Gaborone and Francistown. The fibre is linked to our towers and sites to improve customer experience, network quality and prepare our network for new technology,” he said.

Mascom was the first operator to pilot 4G LTE in 2012 allowing data speeds of about 100 Megabits per second. The 4G LTE doubles the existing capacity and reduces less latency and brings more advanced devices, new interfaces, peer to peer applications and new IP based services, he said.  ENDS