08 Jun 2020

Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) CEO, Mr Martin Mokgware says communication infrastructure provision was a challenge during extreme social distancing.

This was exacerbated by the fact that more people requested for connection at their homes.

He said a lot of customers complained about a slow internet during the lockdown period as compared to the complaints they got on a normal era.

Mr Mokgware explained that before lockdown internet was mostly used at work, but when people were no longer going to work they started using it from home, noting that internet traffic was bound to transpire as the shifting was sudden and heavy.

He said that a lot of people called BOCRA offices requesting that they come connect internet in their homes to use for work and leisure.

“Consumers used 60 per cent of the internet to download movies on a daily basis with the remaining 40 per cent used for social media, mostly facebook and other staff only known by them,” he said.

He added that on other instances, some people did not understand their phones, explaining that there were phones which finished data on the background with the user unaware. 

He advised that consumers should familiarise themselves with their phones before buying internet to avoid loss.

Mr Mokgware said despite the slothfulness, companies reduced their tariffs to accommodate everyone during the period of COVID-19 lockdown.

“Most companies reduced their rates as a way of taking part in the fight against the invisible virus,” he said.

Giving a brief overview of the mandate of BOCRA, Mr Mokgware said they issue frequencies and operation styles to operators.

Also, they regulate all commercial radio and television stations and issue them with  licenses to operate systems.

“BOCRA issues the mobile numbers that we use, it is the same entity that monitors your mobile networks for cyber security purposes,” he said.

He said that mobile network had challenges and therefore operators were given temporarily expanded networks so as to cater for the demands.

He appealed to young Batswana to produce local content with a promise that BOCRA would support them every step of the way.

“It is our heart’s desire to move Batswana from using .com to using .bw for easy identification, but for that to happen we need their input,” he said.

BOCRA corporate communications director, Mr Aaron Nyelesi said BOCRA had achieved quite a lot in terms of telecommunications as compared to other countries even South Africa.

He explained that their services reach out to all Batswana regardless of where they are, whether in the urban or rural areas. Ends