Botswana’s mobile penetration steadily growing

Botswana has made steady progress in developing its communications sector amid revelation that the mobile penetration has surpassed the 170 percent mark, an official has said.

Speaking during the official opening of the World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium held in Gaborone, Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) Chief Executive, Thari Pheko said the country’s communications sector is steadily developing, particularly the mobile  communication sector.

“While this achievement is worth noting, we are acutely aware that we remain way down the world packing order of those countries that are role models in ICT development. We therefore continue to welcome opportunities such as this one that allow us to exchange notes and benefit from the success stories of others,” said the BOCRA boss.

The International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Measuring Information Society Global ICT Development Index is helpful in providing Botswana with a yardstick for measuring where she stands as a country relative to the world.
The CEO stated that the Index inspired BOCRA to aim higher and to stake its claim in global ICT village. “When developing our Strategic Plan for the period 2014-19 we espoused the desire to grow Botswana’s ICT Access to six points and Usage to three points by the year 2019,” said Pheko.

He added when the strategy was developed in 2014, Botswana was ranked third in terms of Access and one in terms of Usage.  “Therefore a target of 6:3 for Access and Usage respectively was considered a stretch target or in strategy development nomenclature, a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG). During the Mid-term review of the Strategy this year, we were motivated to move the target higher to seven for Access and five for Usage,” revealed Pheko. 

He said in September 2015, Botswana began the implementation of a new and converged ICT licensing framework designed to create a more conducive environment for ICT development. Pheko said the framework is intended to meet demand for real-time high quality affordable services; accommodate emerging players for increased market competition and enhance value proposition for consumers.