01 May 2018

Botswana Fibre Networks (BoFiNet) chief executive officer, Mr Mabua Mabua has been elected the new chairperson of Southern African Telecommunication Association (SATA) for a period of 12 months.

SATA is the leading Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry association with a membership of telecommunications network operators, service providers and suppliers.

The association closely contributes to shaping the best policy, regulatory and commercial environment for its members to continue rolling out innovative and high quality services and networks for the economic development of Southern Africa.

Mr Mabua had assumed the position for the year 2018/19 as per the association constitution at the just ended SATA conference which was held in Maun recently.

He was taking over the chairmanship from Mr Petros Dlamini who is theSwaziland Posts and Telecommunication Corporation managing director.

The chairperson is expected to spearhead the mandate of the association of being in the forefront of all issues pertaining to the ICT sector.

In his acceptance speech, Mr Mabua said he was looking forward to SATA members’ assistance and support in guiding the association in the implementation of the various initiatives and projects they had.

He pledged BoFiNet’s commitment to SATA as the implementation of the resolutions to be adopted by the CEOs required commitment and hard work from all.

He added that through unity, SATA and its secretariat would be able to grow the association and address the challenges of the over changing telecommunications landscape.

Mr Mabua assured the gathering that as the new chairperson, he would ensure that they were at par with International Telecommunications Union (ITU) adding that in some cases, they were behind their targets.

Mr Mabua observed that through collaboration, they could do better for the region as far as ICT was concerned.

He also appealed to members to make SATA attractive and a better brand in terms of influencing leadership and ICT agenda in their countries.

He also thanked his predecessor for the able leadership and guidance he offered during his term in the association.

For his part, the outgoing chairperson, Mr Dlamini thanked BoFiNet for accepting the position noting that he was pleased with the peace and stability that reigned within the association.

He said their industries were going through transformation citing that Botswana was step ahead as they had seen Botswana Telecommunication Corporation Limited (BTCL) undergoing transformation hence the establishment of BoFiNet.

In addition, he said they had observed the listing of BTCL with Botswana Stock Exchange which led to many Batswana buying shares, something he welcomed as a move in the right direction.

Mr Dlamini also said in the past decade, they had witnessed and experienced remarkable advances in ICT noting that the next decade promised even greater changes at a great pace.

The ICT revolution, he said created immense challenges as well as opportunities for every economy in the world.

“Our dream is a SADC region where every citizen has access to telecommunications and ICT and able to make informed decisions because the technology is there to realise this dream,” he added. ENDS