TELECOM NAMIBIA

Telecom Namibia, as a commercialised national telecom company, turned 25 on 1 August 2017.

These are 25 years of extraordinary achievements and sometimes considerable challenges. A thousand and two hundred weeks of phenomenal expansion and growth. Seven thousand days of pushing the boundaries and embracing technological innovations.

This silver anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on the extraordinary achievements over the years, as well as to energise the company for the road ahead. The industry has changed dramatically – customers know and demand value. Telecom Namibia is committed to making its customers’ lives a whole lot brighter through continued investment, innovation and development of solutions that deliver tangible value.

Telecom Namibia has invested about N$4.7 billion in state-of-the-art networks. These investments have moved the company beyond a traditional telephone company to become a rightful ICT player.

The telecom landscape today looks almost nothing like it did in 1992, in terms of the competitive and regulatory environments as well as the core technologies and architectures. Even the business model is changing as Telecom Namibia becomes service-driven and customer-focused in ways our customers have never seen before.

Coming forward with a new vision of embracing the future, Telecom Namibia has not only expanded its network to remote villages, settlements and lodges but has also made a far-reaching impact on the wireless and mobile broadband front and ICT solutions, which are driving organisations forward and bringing a paradigm shift in business innovation and opportunities for new start-ups.

Some of the innovative achievements of Telecom Namibia over the years include:

• All electro-mechanical exchanges were replaced with modern electronic switches (EWSD), ushering the country into the digital era.
• An own independent international communication gateway was established in 1995 in Windhoek, reducing Namibia’s heavy reliance on South Africa for our communication with the rest of the world. This was with the establishment of the Windhoek Satellite Earth Station.
• Telecom Namibia initiated the formation and establishment of cellular services in Namibia.
• In 1999 Telecom Namibia became a shareholder in the SAT-3 submarine cable with no landing point.
• Telecom built the country’s first national IP-based backbone network to keep pace with global market trends; and this was one of the most advanced networks in Africa.
• At the turn of the millennium, iWay, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) wholly owned by Telecom Namibia, was launched to provide customers with internet access and unparalleled business services.
• Telecom Namibia has harnessed its NGN backbone infrastructure based on the MPLS technology to offer a world-class IP/MPLS virtual private network (VPN) service to its customers known as Infinitum Plus.
• The company also deployed new broadband access technologies such as ADSL, CDMA, WiMAX and Metro Ethernet to deliver high-speed data communication to customers.
• Telecom Namibia’s IP-enabled future-proof Next Generation Network put it at the cutting edge of technology and gives us a huge competitive advantage.
• Telecom Namibia successfully landed the West Africa Cable System (WACS) at Swakopmund on 8 February 2011.
• The company connected Namibia by fibre optic cables to Angola, Zambia, Botswana and South Africa. Telecom Namibia has linked the land-locked countries of Zambia and Botswana to the West Africa Cable System (WACS).
• A total of four international Points of Presence (PoPs) were installed and connected to the WACS undersea cable. These PoPs are located in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Frankfurt and London. This means cheaper, more direct interconnections with other telecoms providers throughout the world.
• Telecom Namibia deployed Namibia’s first optical dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) network. The network increased transmission capacity to up to 1.6 terabits per second. New 10G and 40G channels provide low latency and improved international connectivity.
• Telecom Namibia’s most recent innovation is its new broadband service, Speedlink, which provides customers with faster and cheaper internet services. With Speedlink, Telecom Namibia has redefined true speed, value for money and unequalled quality broadband services in this country.
• Telecom Namibia rolled out its commercial 4G LTE services under its TN Mobile brand, offering LTE data speeds of up to 100Mbps to all pre- and post-paid subscribers.
• Telecom Namibia is the first operator in the country to deploy a time-division duplex long-term evolution (TD-LTE) high-speed wireless network. This is an end-to-end 4G solution.

As a result of all these innovations, we continue to receive recognition for upgrading our infrastructures. Telecom Namibia became the first fixed-line service provider to achieve Cisco Powered Network (CPN) status in Emerging Africa. Telecom Namibia was commended for being a pioneer in the development of innovative solutions for the telecom industry when Telecom Namibia implemented industry-leading technologies to benefit customers.

Embodying the national spirit of hope, inclusivity and pulling together, Telecom Namibia is committed to connecting and spreading the national spirit going forward. Telecom Namibia today stands shoulder to shoulder with the Namibian nation and remains steadfast in its commitment to a brighter future through its cutting-edge ICT solutions, giving impetus to socio-economic growth and development of the country.