Telecom Namibia says it is planning to more than double its investment in network upgrades to over NS$350 million under its 2023 Integrated Strategic Business Plan (ISBP).
The State-owned telecommunications company, which has to date invested N$150 million towards infrastructure expansion, has of late received a barrage of criticism over continued network disruptions.
“Telecom Namibia has initiated several projects to upgrade its Core, backbone and backhaul networks. Part of the upgrades also entails the replacement of legacy access systems to next generation access systems capable of delivering high speed data transmission. Telecom Namibia recognized that customers want amongst others things faster, reliable, and secure data and internet services,” Telecom Namibia Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Stanley Shanapinda said in response to an inquiry from The Brief.
“To this end, the 2023 Integrated Strategic Business Plan (ISBP) contains an initiative to make Telecom Namibia’s data and interconnection faster, increasingly reliable and more secure.”
He said the current investment being made by the company will not only resolve on-going network challenges but also allow it to introduce new capabilities.
“Telecom Namibia is making progress in modernizing our network across the various layers such as transport, backhaul, aggregation, fixed access, and mobile access. In line with its 2023 ISBP, Telecom Namibia is undertaking several projects aimed to upgrade various aspects of its fixed and mobile network infrastructure by introducing next generation fixed and mobile network infrastructure. These upgrades are not only intended to improve service delivery but are also expected to bring about new and exciting capabilities that will enable Telecom Namibia to deliver world class ICT services across the breadth and width of Namibia,” Shanapinda said.
The Telecom boss absolved the company’s fibre network for some disruptions occurring on the network.
“The downtime and network interruptions experienced recently are not a result of failures on the fiber network. The Telecom Namibia national fiber network remains stable and is also used by other operators nationally to provide services to their customers. It also, amongst others, serves as a transit network for operators in neighboring landlocked countries to reach the WACS submarine cable landing station in Swakopmund. We do however from time-to-time experience downtime and service disruption on the fiber network owing to factors such as power outages, vandalism, theft, and third-party damages,” Shanapinda said.
With regards to stagnant growth in its fixed line business, the Telecom CEO was upbeat about the potential that still exists in the segment, with the telco targeting to use the infrastructure to deliver data services.
“The fixed line network was traditionally designed, optimized for the delivery of voice services. Due to technology evolution in the ICT industry, fixed line voice revenue has been decreasing globally over the years. However, the fixed network remains an ideal infrastructure to deliver high speed data services. The uptake and demand of data services on the fixed network is on the increase. To respond to this demand, Telecom Namibia is modernizing its fixed network infrastructure to be optimized for the delivery of high-speed data services. Telecom Namibia has completed several such projects across the country, and customers connected to such infrastructure continue to enjoy the services on the fixed network. The upgrade of the fixed network will continue over the years in line with the Telecom Namibia ISBP,” he said.
