OMUNDAUNGILO – Residents of Omundaungilo in Ohangwena Cosntituency continue to suffer poor telecommunications coverage.
The constituency, which has about 36 villages, has one MTC network site with the next being about 60km away.
Residents allege poor signals over the years have forced them to walk long distances to communicate with their relatives in person.
“We only have one network tower in Omundaungilo and only those who live close to Omandaungilo enjoy the benefits of communicating with their relatives,” lamented one of the residents.
Councillor for Omundaungilo Constituency, Festus Ikanda, concurred with the sentiments of residents.
He stressed poor communication services in the constituency impede work negatively as well since it is almost impossible to get in contact with the desired people because of the communications constraint.
“We have 36 villages but of the 36 only about four villages have network signals that allow them to communicate – however the remainder are cut off completely,” related Ikanda.
In response to enquiries, MTC corporate communication practitioner, John Ekongo, said the company adopted a three-year methodology in 2012 to enable consolidated progress in the communication development of all regions.
The methodology requires regional governors to inform MTC about the priorities in their region.
Ekongo said the programme commits MTC to the modernization of network coverage in regions outside Windhoek.
He said the focal point is to provide more capacity (voice and internet services), and at the same time pave the way to enable the evolution of advanced services and higher speeds.
Ekongo further noted the programme is in line with the company’s strategic outline of network and infrastructural upgrades which need to be planned accordingly to expand coverage in all parts of the country.
According to Ekongo, in 2012 MTC requested a list of locations within each region where coverage should be provided.
He said at that time the company received a list of locations and the highest priority site per each region has been completed.
“This is a lengthy process, as we also have to get EIA approvals prior to starting any construction on the selected sites,” he said.
Ekongo appealed to all constituency offices to identify their priority areas for improved reception and forward them to MTC through the office of the governor.
He said in so doing in requests can be coordinated.
“Should requests be received by MTC, we will respond that any future coverage requests should always be submitted via the governor’s office,” stated Ekongo.