Telecom Namibia, the Polytechnic of Namibia and Gobabis-based Ounongo Technology Centre yesterday announced the launch of a pilot project for a regional knowledge and service portal involving a number of schools the Omaheke Region.

The Polytechnic’s School of Information Technology will conceptually support the pilot project on a technical, capacity building research and development level, while the OTC’s responsibility is to logistically drive the project on a day-to-day basis. Telecom Namibia will provide financial support and technical solutions. “This is a novel project for Namibia,” said Oiva Angula, Senior Manager: Corporate Communications & Public Relations at Telecom Namibia.

“We see this knowledge portal we are announcing today as having great value for Learning, Information and Communication for the beneficiaries. Consequently, through the knowledge portal we will seek to connect, inform and share,” Angula added.

The project received the nod from the Regional Director Education in Omaheke Region.

“This initiative is a community outreach project aiming to support local rural school curricular and extra-curricular activities as well as to build capacity and to promote ICT in communities so as to foster a knowledge-based economy,” said, Dr. Heike Winschiers-Theophilus, Director Software Engineering - School of Information Technology at the Polytechnic of Namibia.

Dr. Winschiers-Theophilus said that web portals had become a major source of knowledge and information for diverse populations across the world in the last decade. “When portals are effectively used, they allow for self-paced learning, virtual instruction and other web services where the portal provides links to cultural/technological information that is inextricably connected to other web-based sources,” she said.

The proposed portal, with six the local rural nodes, will provide an ICT platform providing for various access nodes of knowledge, knowledge co-creation and collaboration as part of national efforts to build a technology-driven nation.

The six pilot schools selected as rural nodes are:

• Rietquelle Junior Secondary School, Aminuis
• Mokganedi Thlabanello High School, Drimiopsis
• Epukiro Post 3 Junior Secondary School, Epukiro
• Gustaf Kandjii Junior Secondary School, Otjinene
• Donkerbos Primary School, Donkerbos/Sonneblom
• Claudius Heuva Combined School, Talismanus

Angula said the objective is to create a sustainable and workable model which will be replicated further in other parts of the country. He thus urged the project initiators to engage the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and Xnet Development Alliance Trust for the successful execution of this important pilot project.

By Oiva Angula 25 March 2013

Telecom Namibia announced its commitment to continue sponsoring the Namibian Businesswomen Projects for the next three years at the first networking breakfast meeting attended by about 120 businesswomen and female professionals organised by the Economist Business Club in Windhoek last Friday.

Telecom Namibia’s senior manager of Corporate Communications and Public Relations, Oiva Angula, said the financial sponsorship of over N$207,000 given for this year is in line with its continuing support of initiatives that sustain community development, a core component of the company’s corporate social responsibility mandate in order to contribute positively through active participation in the growth and development of the country.

Angula said Telecom Namibia’s support for these women initiatives further enhances the company’s already strong position in Namibian society and demonstrates its support to enhance women’s capacity and empower them to fully participate in social and economic spheres of society.

"Though women need capital for their businesses, it is important to empower them through skills training and mentoring programmes for by doing so they will be able to face their day to day challenges in their life and the community they live with," Angula said.

He said that part of the funds will be used to host the upcoming Namibian Businesswoman of the Year Award slated for later this year. The initiative is a unique programme which recognises the work of high achieving women across a variety of fields. For the past years, the programme has been recognising, rewarding and celebrating the achievements of inspirational Namibian women who have pushed the boundaries and dared to dream.

This year’s award will be held under the patronage of Nangula Uaandja, winner of the Businesswomen of the Year 201 award, and who is also managing partner and director of PricewaterhouseCoopers Namibia.

Other activities to be funded under the sponsorship are the popular Northern Businesswomen Conference slated for August this year, as well as the Katuka Mentorship Programme that kicked off two weeks ago with 40 mentees and mentors. A number of networking breakfast meetings will also be organised throughout 2013 to discuss a variety of topics for women’s professional and personal development.

Over and above the sponsorship, Angula said that Telecom Namibia has committed itself to provide a bursary each year towards the education of a deserving female to study at a recognised institution as a way of empowering women to take up positions of responsibility in society. Other activities to be funded under the sponsorship are the popular Northern Businesswomen Conference slated for August this year, as well as the Katuka Mentorship Programme that kicked off two weeks ago with 40 mentees and mentors. A number of networking breakfast meetings will also be organised throughout 2013 to discuss a variety of topics for women’s professional and personal development.

Over and above the sponsorship, Angula said that Telecom Namibia has committed itself to provide a bursary each year towards the education of a deserving female to study at a recognised institution as a way of empowering women to take up positions of responsibility in society.

“As in the past, the screening and selection process will still be done by the Selection Committee chaired by Prof Agnes van Dyk. The only change is that this will now be known as the Telecom Namibian Businesswomen Bursary Fund,” Angula explained.

At least seven networking breakfast meeting were held last year, while the 13th Northern Businesswomen Conference took place at Oshakati on 9 August last year. The latter was attended by 145 delegates from the northern regions representing 123 businesses. Also, 22 mentors and mentees participated in the 2012 Katuka Mentorship Programme, bringing the number of female entrepreneurs and businesswomen who completed the programme to 235 to date.

Telecom Namibia has been a sponsor of the Namibian Businesswomen Projects for the last nine years. “It is a privilege to be associated with programmes that either empower women or showcase the excellent calibre and quality of talented women in our country,” Angula said.

“At Telecom Namibia, our belief regarding the empowerment of women is simple: stronger women make stronger communities. We understand that creating economic opportunities for women is one of the wisest investments we can make because women take their successes and generate further growth and advancement for their families, communities, professions, and businesses. Investing in expanded economic opportunities for women carries a powerful multiplier effect that benefits all of society,” he said.

Angula said that Telecom Namibia strives to be more than just an ICT service provider by being a valuable partner that provides the best in class products and services to every individual, small business, large corporation, and anyone else who may benefit from its state-of-the-art offerings.

“We are delighted to sponsor the Namibian Businesswomen Projects for 2013 through to 2015. Networks such as these are key in unlocking women’s personal potential and developing enterprise and for this reason Telecom Namibia is pleased to support the attention and focus that is being paid to women in order to create and promote women leadership development, business skills training, mentoring programme and businesswomen’s networks to support female business leaders and entrepreneurs," he added.

The Telecom Namibia Group today announced that the appointment of ZTE Corporation (ZTE) to build a unified mobile network that will provide the Group with a fully transformed 2G/3G/4G networks starting with immediate effect.

The partnership – which entails the designing, planning, supply, delivery and implementation of IMS GSM LTE network infrastructure for Leo and Telecom Namibia, was formalised today at signing ceremony at the Telecom Namibia Head Office in Windhoek. This was followed by a briefing with the local media houses.

Frans Ndoroma, Telecom Namibia Managing Directors, said, “This will result in a major enhancement of Leo’s network quality and efficiency, enabling improved customer experience and richer applications on the mobile platform, and strengthening Leo’s competitiveness.”

Ndoroma said the deal is worth U$46 million and involves the rollout of base stations in three phases. This includes a number of road coverage sites throughout the country as well.

The brand new network will be capable of delivering download speeds of up to 100Mb/s for LTE and 21 Mb/s for 3G.

In terms of the contract, the project will deliver a converged switching platform for both fixed and mobile service with an IMS (IP multimedia systems) core for personal multi-media communications.

It will also deliver mobile radio access networks, both 3G and Long Term Evolution (LTE) – also known as 4G technology – to expand the overall coverage and data capacity for Leo, as well as integrating this IMS core with our fixed network to provide a single point for activation and service provisioning as well as billing interface with the Group’s newly installed state-of-the-art Billing system.

Ndoroma said building the Group’s network on an IMS core platform will give customers a big advantage in terms of price and quality of service adding: “With this unique platform we will optimise time, resources, and results on all IP communication services – from fixed and mobile phone calls to Internet access, from social networks to email,” he said.

The Group’s strategic orientation is towards fixed-mobile convergence, he added.

“More importantly, the IMS solution will also support most of Telecom Namibia’s existing PSTN/ISDN services and other multiple legacy interfaces, such as POTS,” the MD stated.

In parallel to the core network and Value-Added Services platform enhancement phase, base stations will initially be deployed to replace the existing 2G sites of Leo and CDMA base stations. The CDMA network is going to be recovered once all CDMA customers have been transferred to the new Leo network.

Ndoroma promised customers a variety of different products and services in the near future such as sales bundles, integrated tariffs and products and applications with convergent features.

“Aggressive network roll-out, fixed-mobile convergence and innovative service offerings will drive our future growth and are pre-requisites for success of what we are starting to do from now,” he stressed.

This project is among the biggest projects Telecom Namibia has undertaken so far, he said.

“Implementation of this project will allow us not only to expand mobile services and improve quality, but also help satisfy the increasing demand for mobile data and make fixed-mobile convergence a reality in Namibia,” he concluded.