Telecommunications in Botswana - Botswana Market - Botswana Telecommunications Authority

Telecommunications in Botswana

Internet in Botswana

Broadcasting In Botswana

Telecommunications in Botswana

The 1996 Telecommunications Act gives BTA complete authority - within the guidelines established by the 1995 Telecommunication Policy - to license all operators. Likewise, the BTC (Amendment) Act authorized BTC to provide telecommunication services only under license from BTA. BTA granted BTC a license for fixed line voice services. The incumbent is also licensed to provide value added services. BTC does not have a license to provide mobile cellular services because it was not successful in the GSM tender bidding in a joint venture with Vodacom of South Africa.

BTC is 100% government owned with the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning serving as its exclusive shareholder. The Ministry of Works, Transport and Communications (MWTC) bears responsibility for administration of BTC. Botswana has announced plans to privatize BTC, although these had stalled at the time of the writing of this case study.

In addition to providing fixed-line voice services, BTC provides value-added products and services including leased circuits, data communications, payphones and paging. In mid-2001, BTC began offering a wireless local loop service in order to expedite customer connections to their network. Under the Telecommunication Policy, BTC can compete in new service segments, such as the Internet Service Provider (ISP) market, as long as it establishes a separate subsidiary. BTC's ISP subsidiary, Botsnet, is one of 10 ISPs in Botswana.

In 1998, the regulatory authority licensed two new market entrants, Mascom Wireless (PTY) LTD and Vista Cellular (PTY) LTD, to provide mobile cellular services. Since it was established, the regulatory authority has also licensed ten Internet Service Providers (ISPs), including a subsidiary of BTC, and six International Data Gateway licensees that use very small aperture terminals (VSATs) for data transmission.

Mascom received its mobile cellular license on 17 February 1998 for 15 years. Its shareholders include Portugal Telecom, T.S. Masiyiwa Holdings of Zimbabwe and DECI Investments comprising of Botswana citizen shareholders.

Vista was awarded a license to offer GSM services on 27 February 1998 for 15 years. At the time it was licensed, Vista was owned 49% by France Telecom, 46% by Mosokelatsebeng Cellular, a company owned by Botswana citizen shareholders and 5% by another citizen individual. Since then, Orange SA now holds France Telecom's interest.

Under the terms of their licenses, both mobile operators are required to provide coverage in the area between Lobatse and Francistown, the region marking Botswana's eastern border with South Africa. Mascom's original coverage are also included the north-northwest corridor from Francistown to Shakawe via Orapa, Kasane and Maun. Vista's original coverage requirements included the region on the Trans Kgalagadi Highway to Mamuno on the Namibia border. Both mobile operators have met or exceeded these coverage requirements and have now begun expanding either in each other's areas of operation or in new areas and are therefore national mobile cellular operators.

Vista reported 20,000 short message service messages per day. One out of four Vista customers send a SMS message per day. Vista expects SMS volume to increase when it is able to offer mobile banking and other value added services. Such services rely on a number of "hidden" SMS messages for every message the customer receives from its bank or other service.

Both mobile operators have experienced problems in receiving transmission from the incumbent. In addition, Mascom reported that it has had difficulty getting site approval from local authorities to raise masts. In order to ease local authorities' concerns about unsightliness, Mascom started raising "palm tree" masts. Although they are more expensive to erect, they speed approval.

BTA has not authorized Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) except for private networks. VSAT operators, therefore, are not authorized to provide voice services. Other value-added services like voice mail have been liberalized.

BTA's decision to prohibit VoIP is based on a number of concerns. Senior BTA officials note that the quality of service of VoIP has yet to be proved. Their conclusion, after having attended the ITU World Telecommunication Policy Forum on VoIP, is that the sector is in disarray about the benefits of VoIP. BTA prefers to wait until VoIP has been better studied before authorizing its use in Botswana. BTA is also concerned that authorizing VoIP will adversely affect BTC's income, given that BTC continues to enjoy a monopoly on fixed-line voice services. But clearly, BTA has not closed the doors on this issue.

BTA awarded the first ISP license in August 1999. Prior to this time, BTA allowed ISPs to operate without a license so that it could focus its limited staff resources on licensing GSM operators and radio stations. Like the VSAT licenses, the ISP licenses stipulate that ISPs cannot carry voice over data. Nevertheless, Internet café owners believe it would be difficult for them to ensure that their clients do not place Internet calls. ISP licence fees are kept deliberately low at P3000 annually for registration purposes only. This is meant to encourage more operators to come to the fore.