Mobile Telecommunications Company and Huawei conducted the country’s official and first-ever 5G trial, clocking a speed of 1.4 Gigabit per second (Gbps).
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) minister Emma Theofelus said the roll-out of 5G will be important to drive the national development agenda, as bringing new and innovative ideas is key to social and economic transformation, especially considering Namibia’s mission of becoming a knowledge-based and technologically-led economy.
“Namibia is pursuing to be industrialised by the year 2030, and as technology keeps evolving, we can only achieve that vision if we keep up with the latest technology that can aid and is favourable towards the fourth industrial revolution,” she said at the trial event yesterday.
Theofelus noted that there is a need to address issues such as gaps between men and women, and the traditional divide between rural and urban children. Addressing and creating space for technology has the potential for that.
She gave the assurance about the government’s commitment to continuously review, reform and/or enact policies needed to facilitate the national development agenda, adding that the opportunities coming with 5G are vast.
“The onus is upon us to ensure that we take full leverage because, with 5G, the foundation for providing e-governance, e-commerce and e-health is cemented with superior and faster connectivity,” stated Theofelus.
MTC’s CEO Licky Erastus said they have always held firm that 5G is the future and that sooner rather than later, they must explore the commercial reality of 5G on the country’s shores.
Erastus stated: “5G is a fundamental platform for the 4IR, because it is not just another G on the path of mobile technology evolution. 5G combines greater data transfer speeds and heightened processing power to enable the Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity on a massive scale. It will have a significant impact on every aspect of our digital lives.
With 5G comes reduced data rates, reduced latency, energy savings, cost reductions and higher system changes.”
He added that in the coming months, they will be dispatching field service consultants to various industries to pitch 5G, and hopefully onboard with service offerings to enhance connectivity needs and solutions for various enterprises.
Managing director of Huawei Namibia, Michael Zhang, highlighted that 5G offers ultraspeed to enable super mobile network experience, which allows people to watch 4K videos, do live streaming, and other seamless internet experiences. Other than that, it also has a much lower latency, which makes it possible for all kinds of remote operations, for instance, remote driving and medical operations.
“5G will fundamentally change the way how we live, work and communicate. It will enable a wide range of applications that will drive economic growth, enhance productivity and improve the quality of life for the people of Namibia,” he observed.
Zang stated: “It is not only MTC and Huawei’s job to make it happen; it needs everybody here to innovate and to try something new. I encourage everyone from various industries to share your talents, and we welcome you to come and discuss with us the possible use cases for your business and industry.”
He promised to work closely with MTC to deploy cutting-edge technologies to ensure fast and high-quality 5G deployments, and also to innovate together to bring more 5G services to the people, communities, companies and industries.
Zang said: “We believe 5G will be a significant driver and enabler to our social and digital life and economy.”
Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology infrastructure and smart devices.