Telecom Namibia has awarded the 2012 Paralympic Gold and Silver Medalist, Johanna Benson with a laptop and a 24-month free broadband Speedlink connection, valued at N$25 000 for her brilliant exploits at the London Games.

Head of Marketing Amanda Hauuanga said the Telecom Namibia gift would enable the sprinting sensation“to keep in touch with families, friends and fans around the world.”

Benson was attending a Telecom-sponsoredNamibian Businesswomen Projects’ year-end breakfast held in Windhoek on 9 November.

Oiva Angula, Telecom’s Senior Manager of Corporate Communications & Public Relations, extended the company’s congratulations to the athlete who was the guest of honour at the event.

“This gives me the opportunity, on behalf of Telecom Namibia, to extend hearty congratulations to Johanna, Namibia’s first ever Paralympic gold medallist, for her success in London. Your gold- and silver-medal performances are amazing, a testament to your the hard work and dedication as an athlete. We all are so proud. Well done,” Angula said.

“Women not only in Namibia but the world over, because of the challenges they confront, are trailblazers, instinctual innovators and they are energetic entrepreneurs if exposed to an opportunity. You know that; many are here in this room. Their drive and their ideas must be recognised and realised, but they must be given the resources to do this and take it to scale,” he added.

He said Telecom Namibia was proud to be the main sponsor of the Namibian Businesswomen Projects. “Research and experience have shown that educating women is among the most effective ways of improving a country’s overall wellbeing, and beneficiaries of various programmes of the Namibian Businesswomen Projects are energetically playing their part in the boardrooms of their companies and other spheres of our national lives,” Angula said.

“We at Telecom Namibia do not believe that a company has to choose between being a successful business and a responsible one. We have a model for making a difference that works. When we combine the Telecom Namibia model with women’s empowerment, we have an incredible opportunity to make a difference on the big challenges facing our country today.”

Angula said gender equity and women empowerment have been the missing links in the human development value chain for too long.

“What is needed is the enhancing of women’s financial inclusion, building enabling environments for women to thrive as entrepreneurs as well as to create opportunities for women to participate in commerce through inclusive and transparent procurement chains,” he stressed.

Angula called upon Namibian businesswomen to participate fully in Telecom Namibia tendering process to grow their businesses, adding: “We are eager to increase women share on the Telecom Namibia account, in addition to making philanthropic giving toward women’s economic empowerment projects.

“Helping more women live better is a defining issue for Telecom Namibia and our country. We are stepping up our efforts to help educate, source from and open opportunities for women around the country. We want women to view us as a company that is relevant to them and cares about them. We want them to be leading suppliers, managers and loyal customers,” he said.

12 October 2012

Over 900 participants attended the 6th Telecom Namibia ICT Summit 2012 on October 9 to 11 at the Safari Hotel & Conference Centre in Windhoek under the theme, “ICT – an integral part of everyday lives.”

Founded in 2007, this prestigious event has rapidly won national limelight for being one of the best platforms that catapults ICT issues on the national agenda, as it garner significant participation from key local and foreign players in the ICT sector – the manufacturers, suppliers, the intermediaries, the service providers, maintenance companies, the customers, the regulator (CRAN), government agencies and the consultants - to exchange latest information on technological improvements, new innovative ideas, products, services and solutions.

Honourable Joel Kaapanda, Minister of Information and Communication Technology delivered the keynote address at the gathering’s start.

Also in attendance was the Minister of Education, Hon. Dr. Abraham Iyambo, whose ministry is keen in introducing e-learning through the TECH/NA!, a comprehensive strategy for the integration of ICTs across the entire education sector. Telecom Namibia is a partner in TECH/NA!

This year’s event presented the participants the opportunity to interrogate a complex array of technical, technological and organisational challenges in making ICT part of the everyday lives of Namibian households, businesses and public sector.

This Summit had a strong focus on ICT diffusion and utilisation, in keeping with the theme of the Summit. Some of the vital issues that came out were:

1. Using ICT to improve information and exchange and decision-making;
2. Using ICT to improve health, education and the economy, especially employment creation;
3. Using ICT to create business opportunities;
4. Corporate responsibility on the issue of ICT, in particular working to increase the access, use and benefits from ICT;
5. Youth empowerment, in relation to ICT; and
6. Enabling environments in terms of policies, regulatory frameworks, resource allocations and strategies in order to be able to reach a wider group of end-users.

In his keynote address Minister Kaapanda stressed some of the achievements that are directly attributable to Telecom Namibia. He said that the arrival of the West-African-Cable System last year laid the foundation with state-of-the-art infrastructure for ICT promotion, growth and development. He further said that Namibia’s direct connectivity to the WACS cable placed the country in an advantageous position to act as a gateway for land-locked countries to access the rest of the world through the submarine cable system. “The international points of presence that Telecom Namibia is establishing in various countries would immensely benefit neighbouring States,” the Minister added.

Telecom Namibia Managing Director Frans Ndoroma pointed out that the decision to transition the company towards a Next Generation Network Operator six years ago had seen advances in ICT in the country, and the introduction of many innovative products, services and solutions by Telecom Namibia and other ICT players.

In addition to the tremendous growth in broadband capacity over the last, Ndoroma revealed that more and more households are being connected to the Telecom Namibia fixed broadband networks with maximum speeds of 2 megabit per second. Fixed broadband connections in 2011 increased by 28.7%, while net growth this year amounted to 31%.

In the foreword to the summit brochure, Ndoroma mentioned some achievements that show that the company is still leading the pack on ICT development in Namibia. He stated: “Fixed and wireless broadband infrastructure is being rolled out throughout the country. A national IP/MPLS core transport network is in place, supported by a state-of-the-art DWDM platform” all which are crucial to the provisioning of advanced ICT services in the country.

He continued: “We have deployed about 9,000 km of fibre optic cables. The deployment of fibre will provide the opportunity for innovative IT applications to emerge in business, government, education and health sectors which will achieve a number of social and economic benefits.”

Sustaining success requires that Namibia’s ICT players to evolve policy and sector development actions beyond connectivity, and accelerate the identification and build-up of ‘right to win’ capabilities in the new digitisation era, including speed, usability, skills, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

The Summit ended on 11 October 2012.

1 October 2012

Employees of Telecom Namibia have received increases in salaries, following negotiations on wages and benefits between the company’s management and the Namibia Public Workers Union (Napwu).

As per the agreement reached by the two parties on September 20 this year, the increases in salaries will be implemented from October 1. Basic salaries for employees in the Paterson job grades A2 to C3 will have their salaries increased by 8%. Employees in the job grade C-Upper will have a 6% increase and the total packages for employees in job grades D1 to D3 will also be increased by 6%. The monthly housing allowance for employees in job grades A2 to A3 will be increased by N$100, and their monthly transport allowance will be increased by N$80.

“This agreement, in my estimation, is a good one since it captures the principles of inflation-based adjustments.

This agreement reflects the maturity of the leadership of Telecom Namibia and Napwu.It shows that Telecom Namibia cares about the quality of life for our most important resource - our employees,” said Telecom Namibia’s Managing Director Frans Ndoroma, before he signed the agreement on 26 September.

Ndoroma also said the agreement reflects their awareness of the realities of the macro-economic environment in which Telecom Namibia operates as a business. He stated that the agreement balances the impact of inflation and the sustainability of escalating labour costs.

“When labour costs are allowed to run wild, they present risks to jobs and levels of employment,” noted Ndoroma. He further said that the negotiations for increases in salaries were conducted within a commendable spirit, which served the interests of all the parties concerned - particularly the Telecom Namibia employees. He applauded the outstanding leadership displayed by the negotiating teams of the two parties, as the agreement was reached in a record period of two days.

Napwu General Secretary Petrus Nevonga hailed the agreement as a real significant achievement, when one takes into consideration the numerous media reports about protracted and destructive wage negotiations that are currently taking place in the country. He thanked the negotiating teams of the two parties for working hard and tirelessly to secure the agreement without the involvement of outside entities.