9 February 2011

History was made in the Namibian telecommunications sector when by Telecom Namibia successfully landed the much awaited West Africa Cable System (WACS) in Swakopmund on 8 February.

The project which was jointly executed by Telecom Namibia and Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks is expected to mark the beginning of cheaper bandwidth in the country.

The Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Joel Kaapanda assisted by his Botswana counterpart Frank Ramsden pulled the underwater sea cable to the shore to connect it with the landing station at Swakopmund at the commission ceremony at the costal town.

The cable ship, Le De Brehat, had positioned a day earlier, as crew members prepared the seabed for the landing of the cable. Divers laid the cable on the seabed the previous day, and a crew on shore pulled the cable into the beach manhole the next morning. The cable runs underground Swakopmund to its connectivity position at the Telecom Namibia technical building situated at the town.

Namibia and the Botswana contributed U$37.5 million each to secure the WACS landing point.

"We are at the dawn of an infrastructure revolution on the Namibian ICT landscape where broadband communication services will be further enhanced to benefit business, industry, internet community, academia and the entire Namibian population," Minister Kaapanda said.

The 14 000 kilometer cable will bring direct connectivity between Namibia, West Africa, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world with a design capacity of 5.12 terabit.

Managing Director of Telecom Namibia Frans Ndoroma said this equals to the download of 8000 DVDs in 60 seconds or 8 million MP3 files during the same time.

"The capacity of WACS is designed such that it has several terabytes that can sustain Namibia for the next 20 years. With this in place we can expect an increase in data speed, improve voice quality and allow video conferencing through affordable and available bandwidth," Ndoroma added.

8 February 2011

The much awaited West Africa Cable System (WACS) makes a historic landing in Front Beach at Swakopmund, Namibia, today. The landing is expected to mark the beginning of cheap bandwidth which in itself would translate into many possibilities in the Information and Communications sector of the Namibian economy.

The project jointly executed by Telecom Namibia and its Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks partner may give Namibia the lead in the magical broadband revolution in Africa, as well as in tele-education, telemedicine, e-commerce and e-government among other practices that transform economies.

The shore-end landing works begins at 06h00 this morning. The cable ship and the tugs will take up their positions offshore and clearing and preparation of the channel for cable alignment will begin. Divers and other personnel will be active closer to shore, making preparations to lay and pull the cable into the beach manhole. The work area will be secured for safety but the general public can witness the activities from the Mole head and at the beach manhole point (Swimming Pool).

Telecom Namibia`s Managing Director, Mr. Frans Ndoroma, said the landing of the WACS submarine cable is a significant milestone in Namibia`s ICT development and a proud moment for our country. "The landing is of historic proportions since the economies of today are largely driven by internet and other ICT connections which are great enablers of faster global connectivity in order to stimulate economic for growth, and development of our country," Mr Ndoroma added.

The 14000-km WACS cable will bring direct connectivity between Namibia, West Africa, the UK and the rest of the world, with a design capacity of at least 5.12 Tbit. This will translate into much faster and more robust connectivity for voice, data and video. It has landing points in South Africa, Namibia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Côte d`Ivoire, Cape Verde as well as the Canary Islands, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

WACS is being constructed at a cost of US$ 600 million. Namibia`s investment in the design and construction of the cable amounts to some US$75 million, which has been co-invested with Botswana on a 50/50 basis. Upon completion, WACS will enable current services and future, next-generation services at the highest industry standards and at a competitive cost. It will dramatically improve telecommunications delivery and the delivery of communications services generally and thereby place the enormous potential of ICT within the grasp of every Namibian.

"Telecom Namibia is therefore proud to be the Landing Party in Namibia and looks forward to the project`s completion by mid-2011 when the WACS cable will become operational," Ndoroma said.

"This project represents a major milestone in our company`s operational development as well as reason for all Namibia to celebrate. We look forward to working collaboratively with Government, the private sector, the regulatory agencies and indeed all stakeholders to exploit fully the opportunities that the WACS cable will provide," he added.

12 October 2010

Telecom Namibia recently signed a wage and benefit agreement that will cost the company no less than N$18.2 million for the 2010/2011 financial year.

Telecom Namibia met with the Namibia Public Workers Union (NAPWU) to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on wages and benefits for its employees destined for the new financial year.

Telecom Namibia committed itself to increasing the basic salary for employees in the bargaining unit for Paterson job grades A2-D3 by 9.2% across the board as from 1^st October 2010, as well as an increase in other benefits.

Managing Director of Telecom Namibia Frans Ndoroma, at the signing ceremony of the MoU said the agreement is the outcome of two weeks of intensive negotiations.

`It is a deal that will help to increase incomes and improve living conditions of our employees,` he said.

`The short period in which this agreement was reached is proof of the sincerity, trust, teamwork, confidence and mutual respect which not only permeated the whole negotiation process but also characterizes employee relations within Telecom Namibia,` he added.

Ndoroma expressed his pride in the agreement, adding: `Given the current economic realities, it is a very good agreement for Telecom Namibia. It is a very good agreement for our employees,`

NAPWU General Secretary Peter Nevonga said that labour relations between the union and Telecom Namibia are sound.

`We commit ourselves to promote sound labour relations and endeavour to find amicable solutions for problems as they arise,` he said.

Nevonga also urged employees to increase productivity and encouraged the management of Telecom Namibia to support these efforts on the part of Telecom Namibia workers.