ICT minister Emma Theofelus has said that with the rolling out of 5G, and a three million
mark in a country that is less densely populated, the aim is to bring various services closer to the people.

In March, Namibia, with Huawei, conducted its first 5G trial. As 5G and 5G-Advanced work their way into the country’s networks, Theofelus stated that there is a keen interest as they had a wide range of people come and use 5G to see if there was any difference in speed, compared with the current technology they have.

“In Namibia, e-sports and e-games are growing quite popular, and we ran tests to see if 5G could elevate Namibia’s competitiveness in e-sports competitions. But the potential of 5G extends beyond just sports. We’re looking at education, health and mining,” said the lawmaker in an interview with Huawei recently.

The minister indicated that Namibians are dispersed all over the place, which means they often have to travel great distances to get a service, something that takes time and costs money that many people don’t have.  

“We want to bring services closer to the people. To do that, we must ensure they have the necessary connectivity. This requires the expansion of ICT infrastructure, which is
already costly because the country is so large,” she said.

Theofelus added that there is a need to ensure that people can afford the devices through which government services are delivered, and can afford the data to access these government services online.

She said: “It’s a three-point approach to ensure that e-government service becomes a reality. That requires some level of investment, but it will ensure that no citizen is left behind, and that everyone can access life-changing services.”

The minister said due to the low digital literacy rates in the country, one could have a 5G site up and running, but not everybody on the ground would be using it.

“So, if we do have a target for 5G, those numbers would need to be supported by citizens who can use that infrastructure. Otherwise, operators won’t get a rate of return on their investment. As we draft our National Development Plan Six (2025 to 2030), we still want to see what targets make sense, given the realities on the ground.”

She is confident that the country’s young population is eager to get online and doesn’t fear technology, hence, “they would want to maximise it. We have seen the acceleration of ICT in Namibia and on the African continent. We are confident that the picture could completely change by the year 2030.”