• Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy & Policy
Friday, July 11, 2025
SUBSCRIBE
The Brief | Namibia's Leading Business & Financial News
26 °c
Windhoek
22 ° Wed
25 ° Thu
  • Home
  • Companies
    • Finance
    • Agriculture
    • Technology
    • Property
    • Trade
    • Tourism
  • Business & Economy
  • Mining & Energy
  • Opinions
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
  • Africa
  • e-edition
No Result
View All Result
The Brief | Namibia's Leading Business & Financial News
  • Home
  • Companies
    • Finance
    • Agriculture
    • Technology
    • Property
    • Trade
    • Tourism
  • Business & Economy
  • Mining & Energy
  • Opinions
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
  • Africa
  • e-edition
No Result
View All Result
The Brief | Namibia's Leading Business & Financial News
Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
TB image banner 750x140
Home Companies Technology

Namibia’s internet speed among world’s slowest

by editor
February 24, 2025
in Technology
6
A A
408
SHARES
6.8k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedIn

Namibia’s internet speed ranks 143rd out of 152 countries, with a median download rate of 13.72 Mbps, according to Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index.

You might also like

Windhoek residents to pay 3.9% more for electricity

Namibia records over 500k cyberthreats in 3 months

Local authorities’ debt to NamPower rising by N$10 million monthly

The country also falls in the bottom 20% globally for digital infrastructure, e-security, and e-governance, as reported by Surfshark’s Digital Quality of Life Index.

Cirrus Capital, Head of Data Analytics and Economist, Tannan Groenewald, warns that a lack of competition is stalling progress, with MTC controlling an estimated 82% of the mobile market and delays in broadband expansion persisting.

“Namibia’s strongest component was internet affordability, although this metric considers the work time required based on the average wage to afford the cheapest mobile internet, thus, this is skewed by Namibia’s very high inequality. Meanwhile, Huawei’s ’24 Digitalisation Index, which assesses the level of ICT maturity and economic development, ranked Namibia 75th out of 77 countries assessed,” he added.

According to the 2023 Census, only 15.0% of Namibian households have access to home fixed internet connectivity, with the proportion among rural households just 5.1%.

“Due to Namibia’s low population density and the distance of rural areas from urban localities, providing high-speed broadband internet has proved challenging for current operators. Concerns remain around the lack of competition in the sector,” Groenewald explained.

Meanwhile, Cirrus Co-Founder Rowland Brown criticised Namibia’s delays in licencing Starlink, arguing that restrictive policies are hindering digital development in a country where rural connectivity remains as low as 5.1%.

This comes as the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) last year issued a cease-and-desist order to Starlink, accusing the satellite communications company of operating within Namibia without the required telecommunications license.

The regulator then revealed that it had already confiscated illegal Starlink terminal equipment from consumers and initiated criminal cases with the Namibian Police against those involved.

“This demonstrates the absurdity of keeping Starlink out of Namibia for so long. For a country with such low population density and such large areas, Starlink is the ideal technology. However, a mad, nationalistic and protectionist mentality stands in the way of development once again,” he said.

Brown contends that there are so many examples in history of where “protecting local industry” from foreign technology ends up leaving a country far behind its peers and the rest of the world.

“See Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose episode on hand looms in India (from the 1980s) as an example. You would think we would learn from this, but alas,” he said.

Currently, Starlink operates in 18 African countries, with Nigeria being the first to launch in January 2023.

Groenewald noted that where data is available (12 countries), the cheapest Starlink package is more affordable than the cheapest non-Starlink unlimited fixed internet package in five countries.

“Roughly half the price in Ghana and Kenya, 22% cheaper in Cape Verde, 14% cheaper in Mozambique, and more than 20 times cheaper in Zimbabwe,” he added.

Starlink packages are currently sold out in six African countries due to exceptionally high demand. In Zimbabwe, terminals sold out in October, less than two months after receiving permission to operate.

“Its strong demand in other African countries and subsequent impacts suggest that a more competitive ICT industry can drive costs down and improve availability in Namibia’s distant rural areas,” Groenewald said.

This comes as in the ‘24/’25 Mid-Year Budget, the Ministry of Finance forecasts the sector to grow at an average annual rate of just 2.3% over the next four years—the slowest among all broad sectors, he said.

Furthermore, MTC reported unforeseen delays in expansion projects in ’24, with a shift in focus towards hiring additional personnel.

Namibia’s main internet service providers (ISPs) include Telecom Namibia, MTC Namibia, Paratus Telecom, Internet Technologies Namibia, IWAY, and Africa Online. These ISPs offer various services, including fibre, DSL, wireless, and mobile broadband.

author avatar
editor
See Full Bio
Tags: Cirrus CapitalRowland BrownTannan Groenewald
Share163Tweet102Share29
Previous Post

Navigating the AI landscape: ChatGPT vs. DeepSeek

Next Post

NIDA reports N$102 million operating loss for 2024

Recommended For You

Windhoek residents to pay 3.9% more for electricity

by reporter
July 4, 2025
0
Windhoek seeks 4% electricity tariff increase

Residents in Windhoek, along with those in coastal and northern areas, are set to pay more for electricity after the Electricity Control Board (ECB) approved tariff increases for...

Read moreDetails

Namibia records over 500k cyberthreats in 3 months

by reporter
July 4, 2025
0
Namibia records over 500k cyberthreats in 3 months

The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) says the Namibia Computer Security Incident Response Team (NAM-CSIRT) detected a combined total of 540,786 weaknesses in a digital system, software,...

Read moreDetails

Local authorities’ debt to NamPower rising by N$10 million monthly

by reporter
July 4, 2025
0
Local authorities’ debt to NamPower rising by N$10 million monthly

Local and regional authorities are accumulating increasing arrears to national power utility NamPower, with debt rising by an average of N$10 million per month, according to the Electricity...

Read moreDetails

Namibia targets 25 Mbps broadband speed by 2026

by reporter
June 27, 2025
0
Namibia targets 25 Mbps broadband speed by 2026

Namibia has announced plans to increase its national broadband speed to 25 megabits per second (Mbps) by 2026, as part of its broader commitment to accelerating digital infrastructure...

Read moreDetails

Speculations have become reality: AI innovations and Africa’s strategic opportunity

by editor
May 2, 2025
0
Speculations have become reality: AI innovations and Africa’s strategic opportunity

By Stantin Siebritz In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, yesterday's speculations are quickly becoming today's reality. Huawei’s latest Ascend 910D AI chip exemplifies this trend perfectly....

Read moreDetails
Next Post
NIDA reports N$102 million operating loss for 2024

NIDA reports N$102 million operating loss for 2024

Related News

Zimbabwe abandons bank lending ban that stalled economy

Zimbabwe abandons bank lending ban that stalled economy

May 17, 2022
Interest rates hold steady for now

Interest rates hold steady for now

February 16, 2024
Capricorn Foundation channels N$11.1m into education, vulnerability programmes

Capricorn Foundation channels N$11.1m into education, vulnerability programmes

September 5, 2024

Browse by Category

  • Africa
  • Agriculture
  • Analysis
  • Business & Economy
  • Columnists
  • Companies
  • Finance
  • Finance
  • Fisheries
  • Green Hydrogen
  • Health
  • Investing
  • Latest
  • Market
  • Mining & Energy
  • Namibia
  • namibia
  • News
  • Opinions
  • Property
  • Retail
  • Technology
  • Tourism
  • Trade
The Brief | Namibia's Leading Business & Financial News

The Brief is Namibia's leading daily business, finance and economic news publication.

CATEGORIES

  • Business & Economy
  • Companies
    • Agriculture
    • Finance
    • Fisheries
    • Health
    • Property
    • Retail
    • Technology
    • Tourism
    • Trade
  • Finance
  • Green Hydrogen
  • Investing
  • Latest
  • Market
  • Mining & Energy
  • namibia
  • News
    • Africa
    • Namibia
  • Opinions
    • Analysis
    • Columnists

CONTACT US

Cell: +264814612969

Email: newsdesk@thebrief.com.na

© 2025 The Brief | All Rights Reserved. Namibian Business News, Current Affairs, Analysis and Commentary

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Companies
  • Mining & Energy
  • Business & Economy
  • Opinions
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
  • Africa

© 2025 The Brief | All Rights Reserved. Namibian Business News, Current Affairs, Analysis and Commentary

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.