by Staff Reporter
Windhoek
MTC’s says its planned N$1 billion investment, which is its biggest to date, will be used to significantly expand its 3G and 4G networks, now at risk of non implementation if the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) does not allocate it the additional spectrum required to implement the project.
At a media briefing in the capital on Wednesday, the company said it took a strategic decision in September 2015 to significantly upgrade its 3G and 4G network in urban areas to meet customers’ expectations using mobile broadband accessibility in the main towns, but also to introduce 3G Internet access in peri-urban and rural areas.
After analyzing the trend of migrating customers from 2G to 3G, and 3G to 4G, and the significant increase in data usage, MTC dramatically accelerated the capacity expansion of 3G and 4G, and took a strategic developmental decision to roll out 3G in rural Namibia. This development will increase the usage of 3G in peri-urban and rural Namibia covering 64 percent of the population, which is a significant achievement in the interest of rural development and also aligned with Namibia’s objective of ICT digital inclusivity.
Currently 57 percent of MTC’s customers (1.4 million Namibians) already use data, 21 percent use 3/4G network and 36 percent use a 2G device. MTC believes the 2G users are, however, disadvantaged as they do not enjoy the full internet experience due to the limited functionality on their devices. The company’s research also shows that the 43 percent of its customers that do not use data mostly live in rural Namibia where affordability of smartphones and non-existing 3G network are the two main limiting factors prohibiting customers from benefiting from accessing mobile internet.
To enable MTC’s customers to connect to the internet, enough bandwidth and an appropriate device need to be available. For this customers have three device options available to connect; either with a smartphone, a tablet or a computer, and MTC’s conclusion is that connecting rural citizens with an affordable smartphone would be the best option.
Looking at the two factors, data affordability is available with MTC’s various Aweh and other data packages. The challenge is how to make smartphones affordable to the rural citizens. Accordingly MTC is working closely with smartphone vendors to introduce a good 3G smartphone to subsidize and sell for around N$400, while it is rolling out 3G network at the same time. This, says MTC, will allow customers to use their phones for more than just making a voice calls and sending an SMS, allowing them to actively participate in the digital world.
These realities have motivated MTC’s strategy to aggressively invest in its network and in rural areas, while continuing with its main objective of transforming people’s lives by giving them access to the internet and to opportunities that would improve their lives.
The project started by increasing capacity in most congested urban areas. In October 2015 MTC commissioned the first eight new 3G sites in northern Namibia. In November 2015 another 10 3G sites were commissioned in Swakopmund and Walvisbay, and in December 2015 it commissioned 10 additional (3G) sites in Windhoek. By the end of July 2016 MTC expects to commission a total of 176 (3G) sites and an additional 20(4G) sites at the end of July 2016, in the two components of urban capacity and new 3G in rural areas. By the end of December 2017 it will have 127 more (3G) sites and also 116 (4G) sites.
In total, by the end of December 2017, MTC expects to have added 20(2G) sites in rural areas, 331(3G) sites with 144 in rural and 187 in urban areas, and 116(4G) sites in urban areas. With that the company expects to achieve 98 percent on 2G coverage of the entire population, and 3G would have grown from 30 percent to 64 percent, while 4G would have grown from 15 percent to 30 percent. The total resource capacity in 3G will increase to 259 percent and 4G to 337 percent.
This investment from MTC will however be affected if CRAN does not allocate MTC the required spectrum needed to roll out the 3G network in rural areas. MTC has been in discussions with the CRAN for the last two years about the need for additional spectrum, and as a result of these discussions the spectrum was gazetted on October 24, 2015 without any objections from the public. Based on these developments, MTC’s Board of Directors committed significant investments to this project. However, MTC has not yet received the spectrum because CRAN has not made a decision to allocate the two additional spectrums.
“We are very concerned that this project and our investment which is aimed at rural ICT development will go to waste if we do not receive the required spectrum soon,” said MTC’s Tim Ekandjo.
MTC is currently allocated 63MHz of spectrum mainly used for mobile services while Telecom Namibia has a total allocation of 132MHz and Paratus 80MHz. To successfully implement this project, MTC requires only 5MHz of 900MHz spectrum to roll out 3G in rural areas and 5MHz for expanding the 4th carrier in 3G (2100MHz) in urban areas. If granted to MTC, this will bring MTC’s total spectrum allocation to 73MHz, which will still be lower than Telecom Namibia and Paratus.
“MTC highly respects the powers vested in CRAN by the Act to control, plan, administrate and manage the allocation of radio spectrum, and having high regard for CRAN’s role in ICT development in Namibia, we have no doubt that they will support this developmental investment by MTC and allocate the much needed spectrum,” concluded Ekandjo.