MTC is upgrading its network in the Windhoek area to offer an enhanced mobile broadband network in terms of speed and access from 3G to 4G.
Essentially, this means MTC will be swapping over to 4G and will therefore be the first country in Africa to roll out a faster and more efficient mobile broadband service, giving greater access to data services on their laptops, PCs and e-mail.
The total investment for the cutover from old to new network in Windhoek alone is costing MTC US$22.7 million (around N$170.5 million). It is an investment which the company considers to be in the interest of the entire nation.
While the intention with the upgrade is to improve capacity and good coverage around Windhoek, MTC nevertheless apologises to its loyal customers for any inconvenience this upgrade might cause in terms of:
* Dropped calls
* Slow data speeds
* Occasional delays in speech
The upgrade, which is currently concentrated to Windhoek, will be extended to other parts of the country and will enable the company to provide speeds of up to 7.2Mbps on its mobile broadband service.
At the announcement of its 2008/09 financial results on 11 March 2010, MTC announced that is pushing mobile broadband (mobile Internet) as a major strategic business imperative and that it would announce further products and services in that regard later this year.
Albertus Aochamub, MTC's General Manager of Corporate Affairs, said the current upgrades serves to reassure MTC customers of the company's resolve to continuously enhance the network quality in response to increasing demands.
Said Aochamub: “We anticipate to complete the cutover by end of April 2010 after which our customers can enjoy high quality service and the best value for money 4G accessibility in Windhoek.”
He said the current upgrades are also in anticipation of the WACS (West African Cable System) which is expected to land at Swakopmund during September 2011.
MTC has invested N$115 million (50% of the required total investment) in the WACS project, confident that it will improve Namibia's access to the IP world more than tenfold with better speeds and massive bandwidth for quality Internet services.
“We are making these investments now so that when the WACS cable eventually lands here, the MTC infrastructure will have the required capacity to accommodate faster speeds and quality for mobile broadband services.”
The cut over for the rest of the country will be announced once the Windhoek project has been completed.
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MTC (Mobile Telecommunications Limited) was established in 1995 as a joint venture between Namibia Post and Telecommunications Holdings (NPTH), Telia and Swedfund. During May 2004, NPTH concluded a deal that saw it hold 100% of the shares in MTC by acquiring the 49% held by Telia Overseas AB and Swedfund International AB. During 2006, the sale of 34% of MTC shares to Portugal Telecom was concluded for N$1.34 billion while the Namibian government retains the remainder of the stake through NPTH.
MTC currently covers 98% of the population of nearly two million citizens with more than 650 base stations and repeaters and offers a dual band 900/1800MHz. The company also expanded its cellular coverage to all major towns in Namibia, including the major arterial roads. It further runs two modern mobile switching centres in Windhoek and Oshakati, with capacity to accommodate rapidly rising number of customers of over 1.3 million active users. MTC also operates the only full service customer contact centre in Namibia dealing with service queries ranging from telephony, SMS, fax, GPRS, data, voicemail and 3G/HSDPA. A staff of 367 persons serves a diverse market of both pre- and postpaid subscribers.
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