Johannesburg, 09 Feb 2012
A lack of mobile telecommunication frequencies is holding back Namibians from gaining access to next-generation 4G networks.
That is according to the communications officer of telecoms company MTC, Tim Ekandjo, responding to questions posed by ITWeb about the Communications and Regulatory Authority of Namibia's (Cran) investigation into MTC for illegal frequency use.
An unnamed operator last week complained to Cran that MTC had been trialling its 4G services since 1 February on an already reserved frequency band, resulting in signal interference around a country club in Windhoek.
Namibian telco operators are only allowed to operate on frequencies allocated by Cran.
But Ekandjo says the anonymous company has dropped the complaint, and he says MTC never used another provider's frequency for the testing. Cran officials were unavailable to comment as to whether it has dropped the investigation into MTC.
The debacle, however, has shone a light on Namibia's lack of frequencies required for next-generation mobile services that offer Internet speeds up to twice as fast as 3G networks.
“According to Cran, they need to work out a band plan first, before they can issue 4G frequencies,” said Ekandjo. “Those frequencies are quite scarce, so we're working with them to finalise the band plan, because we've made an application - we want to start rolling out 4G.”
Ekandjo says MTC could roll out 4G services within six months in Namibia if it had the necessary backing from Cran.
Cran issued a press statement earlier this week regarding its investigation into MTC, in which it said that, apart from investigating the complaint against the telco, it is also working on a revised database of frequencies and a National Band Plan.
“The strategy will specifically set out the basis of assignments of spectrum in general, including high-demand spectrum,” the regulatory body said.
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