29 Mar 2016

Since the introduction of mobile telephony 18 years ago, the country has witnessed a number of significant advancements within the telephony industry, says the Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr Tshenolo Mabeo.  

Speaking at Orange Botswana’s 18^th anniversary celebrations, Mr Mabeo said to date there are three mobile network providers, offering voice, Internet services and mobile banking.

“It cannot go unnoticed that there has been tremendous growth in the access and use of mobile telephony, data and Internet services by consumers throughout the country, with the highest mobile penetration rate in Africa of over 160 per cent,” he said.

Government, he said, issued the first license for mobile telephony 18 years ago, as part of the strategy to liberalise the communication sector and accordingly introduce competition and other private players to the telephony arena. This licensing, he added, succeeded the enactment of the Botswana Telecommunications Act in 1996, which saw the establishment of a regulatory body, now called Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority .

“As we celebrate and witness 18 years anniversary with Orange Botswana in existence, which is also an anniversary for the entire mobile sector, the growth experienced by Orange is equivalent to the growth in the regulatory environment,” he said.

Minister Mabeo further said nine years into licensing of cellular network, government further liberalised the telecommunication sector in 2007, making way for a new license regime. The new regime allowed fixed and mobile operators to apply for the converged service neutral license, allowing telecommunication operators to provide mobile telephony, fixed telephony and Internet services under one license, he added.

“The licensing regime empowered operators to respond to market demands and technological advancements by offering diversified services, according to customers’ needs,” said Mr Mabeo.

As a result of this liberalisation, he said, growth in ICT connectivity has surpassed expectations during the past 18 years as it was evident with the different fast paced technologies such as mobile broadband (3G/4G) Internet, innovative and converged services for home and businesses. 

Meanwhile, Orange Botswana Board chairperson, Mr Satar Dada said Orange Botswana has constantly been the first to introduce services such as iPhone, 4G LTE technology, international roaming and airtime credit.

“Since the launch of Orange Money in 2011, the service has grown to lead the market with 360 000 customers and we introduced the first Orange Money Visa Card in Botswana and Africa,” he said, indicating that there are nearly 1 000 point of sales countrywide through strategic partnerships with Choppies, Botswana Post and Sefalana Cash  among others.

For his part the company CEO, Dr Patrick Benon said their future was built around Essentials 2020, an Orange Group strategy aimed at offering an unmatched customer experience to all its customers and stakeholders. Ends