Botswana’s government has introduced new regulations according to which telecommunication service providers must separate mobile financial payment services from other offerings. The new regulations came into effect in January 2020 and in addition to placing the management of mobile money under the jurisdiction of the country’s central bank (the Bank of Botswana), it also compels...
Botswana Fibre Networks (BOFINET) has partnered with the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development (MYSC) in availing WIFI Hotspots that will connect Batswana to watch NOW TV free of charge while on-the-go. This telecommunications platform is meant to collaboratively utilise innovation at BOFINET and will be launched next week. During a media briefing...
Reuters reports that MTN Group has abandoned plans to sell its 53% stake in Mascom Wireless Botswana, which was supposed to net the company USD300 million. In its quarterly update Africa’s largest mobile operator by subscribers said that ‘certain conditions’ related to the transaction had not been met, which led to the company’s decision. On a journalists’...
More Africa NewsNetworksBotswana: Fibre to Home to Improve Internet Connectivity
October 17, 2019by myles
Gaborone — Government intends to develop the ICT sector in order to achieve social, economic and technological transformation of the country. The Minister of Transport and Communications, Ms Dorcas Makgato said this during a recent launch of Fibre to the Home Technology, which is expected to give unlimited bandwidth for internet connection to homes. Minister...
More Africa NewsBotswana: Fight for control of Mascom rumbles on, heads for mediation
October 14, 2019by myles
The ownership battle which is surrounding Botswana’s largest cellco, Mascom Wireless, is set to go to mediation. In March this year South Africa-based MTN Group confirmed plans to sell its 53% interest in Mascom, saying it would offload its shares for USD300 million to minority investor Econet Wireless, which has a 7% interest in Mascom. This move...
More Africa NewsBotswana: BTC doubles capacity on Spacecom’s Amos-7 in multi-year satellite services deal
September 16, 2019by myles
Spacecom (Tel Aviv Stock Exchange: SCC), operator of the AMOS satellite fleet, and Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited (BTC) today announced that BTC is doubling its capacity on AMOS-7 communication satellite KU-beams. With this new capacity, BTC is adding cellular backhaul and various long-distance communication services to enhance rural area connectivity. AMOS-7’s KU-band beams enable mobility...
Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) has reported an 8% drop in revenues for its financial year to 31 March 2019 to BWP1.45 billion (USD134.6 million). The fall was blamed on ‘unfavourable trading conditions which saw restrained consumer spending,’ particularly in the mobile sector, where sales were down 12%. The state-backed fixed and cellular operator registered a...
A shareholder battle is brewing at Botswana’s largest cellco by subscribers, Mascom Wireless. A USD300 million deal was struck in March for minority shareholder Econet Wireless of Zimbabwe to acquire the 53% stake held by South Africa’s MTN Group. This would give Econet a 60% stake and control of Mascom. A report from The Patriot, however, says...
More Africa NewsNetworksStrategyBotswana Telecommunications Entrusts India’s Subex With Revenue Protection for Five Years
March 8, 2019by myles
The incumbent Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) has renewed for five years the income protection contract entrusted since 2010 to Subex Limited, India’s provider of telecom analysis solutions. As part of this agreement, Subex will implement its integrated fraud management and revenue assurance platform, as well as partner settlement and route optimization. With these solutions, Subex Limited indicates...
ITMore Africa NewsBotswana – mobile users ‘not really experiencing the net’
February 20, 2019by myles
Mobile internet subscriptions in Botswana continue to increase in comparison with fixed internet, according to Statistics Botswana. The data firm attributed the growth mainly to the rate at which data bundles are being purchased for mobile internet, specifically for social media use. The latest figures show that mobile internet subscriptions increased by 5.4% in the...