18 November 2013

Partners with PCCW to extend data superhighway worldwide

Telecom Namibia, today announced that it has unveiled its Global IP-MPLS VPN and Carrier Ethernet products at AfriCom 2013, which took place in Cape Town, South Africa, from the 12-14 November 2013.

The telecommunication giant’s Managing Director Frans Ndoroma, CCO Heiko Trost and COO Hein Bader were amongst those who attended Africa's largest annual communications Congress and Exhibition.

Over the past couple of years, Telecom Namibia has been shifting its focus from providing pure communications to offering IP and IT services, and expanding its reach beyond the borders of Namibia.

Telecom Namibia’s head for International and Wholesale services Ernst Nitschke said the unveiling of the international products was a "big step forward", as it is the first services to be offered globally on the company’s IP-MPLS network.

The company’s IP-MPLS VPN service enables customers to securely connect international sites to sites in Namibia and SADC for transfer of voice, data and multimedia traffic and vice versa. MPLS IP-VPN provides end-to-end connectivity and allows intranet, extranet and remote access capabilities.

Telecom Namibia’s Global Ethernet Services are designed to meet customers’ high speed global connectivity requirements with high degree of reliability and flexibility to upgrade the bandwidth quickly between geographically dispersed locations, when needed thereby reducing total cost of ownership.

The new international products will be delivered over Telecom Namibia’s IP-MPLS carrier class network of own PoPs and in partnerships with international carriers, thereby leveraging their extensive submarine network that offers multiple restoration paths for rerouting traffic in case of exigencies.

The service is available with six options for QoS levels ranging from a standard best-effort service to a high quality real-time service.

“The service is ideal for both enterprises and carriers needing cross-border connectivity for high traffic volumes and mission critical applications, such as high-speed data transfer, video streaming and distributed SAN applications,” explains Isak Ouseb, Senior Manager: Product Management at Telecom Namibia.

“Such applications require a scalable platform that can provide the flexibility to accommodate ad-hoc business requirements of bandwidth upgrade, quickly and cost effectively,” he added.

“The Global IP-MPLS VPN and Carrier Ethernet products enhance existing international products offerings such as our TDM-based international private leased circuit and international express routes in terms of uptime, redundancy, reliability, resilience, cost-effectiveness and QoS offerings,” says Ouseb

The services come in the wake of the establishment of international points of presence in Cape Town, Johannesburg, London and Frankfurt by Telecom Namibia in partnership with NewTelco SA, a Jasco Group company,

These PoPs were interconnected to the world’s largest internet exchange, the Deutscher Commercial Internet Exchange (DE-CIX), providing direct access for Namibia to more than 550 networks connected to the De-CIX node.

“Our international PoPs and our interconnect to the DE-CIX has given Telecom Namibia extensive coverage in key business cities throughout Asia, Europe and North America,” Nitschke said.

Meanwhile, Telecom Namibia has signed a MPLS network interconnection agreement with Hong Kong based PCCW Global to enhance its international network coverage and service offerings.

The interconnection agreement will extend Telecom Namibia’s service coverage in global Internet access, IPLC, Ethernet, and IP VPN to its overseas customers through PCCW Global’s robust and resilient MPLS network which covers over 1,500 cities in 110 countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas. This collaboration will also enable PCCW Global to provide its international customers with greater local access to the SADC region.

“This partnership is one of the important milestones in developing our international business, especially international data services. It will extend the coverage of our services from Namibia to the rest of the world and vice versa,” Nitschke said.

He also confirmed that the new Global IP-MPLS VPN and Carrier Ethernet products will be exhibited at the 3-day conference Capacity Europe in Amsterdam, Netherlands, which starts today.

Capacity Europe is the flagship carrier meeting connecting the European and global wholesale telecoms markets. Now in its 13th year, the event brings together over 900+ executive-level attendees from over 300+ different companies in the global market.

19 November 2013

Telecom Namibia successfully went live with a new customer billing system over the weekend of 17-18 November to provide better customer service and experience through new and more exciting offers.

The New Generation Business Support System (NGBSS) solution was supplied by Huawei Technologies, a global provider of next generation telecommunications network solutions.

With this world-class NGBSS solution going live, Telecom Namibia is now able to bill for its postpaid, prepaid and hybrid services in real-time, and in one single bill for all services. This provides Telecom Namibia with sustainable advantages of rapid time-to-market, cost efficiency, and enhanced customer experience in today’s competitive environment.

The new system enables the company to launch innovative and unique products and services to the market, reduce time to market for new products and more importantly address issues previously experienced by customers around billing.

The successful upgrade was largely due to an incredible team effort and will to make it happen by Huawei and Telecom Namibia.

The detailed planning, dry runs, and data migration testing were key in the success of the cutover. Without the planning and support from our partner Huawei, the migration of our large number of customers to the new solution would not have been possible.

This solution suite, implemented based on applications of industry best practices, include Customer Relationship Management (CRM), IP Contact Centre (IPCC), Convergent Billing System (CBS), Partner Relationship Management (PRM), Mediation and Provisioning.

The upgrade started from the 17th of November at midnight (00:00) until the 18th of November at 03:00.

03 December 2013

tn mobile, the mobile division of Telecom Namibia, is the first operator in Namibia to offer4G LTE prepaid broadband service to consumers.

This follows the launch of tn mobile’s superfast 4G LTE network and services by the minister of ICT Joel Kaapanda last week.

With the tn mobile Prepaid 4G LTE, users can now enjoy faster data access on their laptops and PCs on tn mobile’s 4G LTE network, with theoretical download speeds of up to 100Mbps.

The tn mobile Prepaid 4G LTE is available at N$298 and comes with a Dongle bundled with free 500 MB data. The out of bundle rate is 95 cents per MB.

The service is currently available in Windhoek, Swakopmund, Walvis Bay, Henties Bay, Ondangwa, Oshakati, Ongwediva, Ohangwena and Oshikango.

Outside the 4G LTE coverage area users will be served by tn mobile’s 3G HSPA+ network with theoretical download speeds of up to 21Mbps and upload of 5.76Mbps, which makes it the fastest 3G service in the country.

“Where the 3G/HSPA+ network is not available our 2G network will do the job. So we always have you covered,” explains Chris Keeping, Chief Mobile Officer at Telecom Namibia.

“We will continue to enhance and expand our 4G LTE network coverage to key towns around the country,” Keeping added.

"Leveraging on our new 4G LTE network, we are glad to offer the country's first 4G LTE prepaid broadband service. Our prepaid users are now able to enjoy ultra-fast 4G LTE data access and an enhanced mobile experience," says Oiva Angula, senior manager for corporate communications and public relations at Telecom Namibia.

“As an example, tn mobile also offers an uncongested 4G LTE experience in Windhoek with our 4G LTE base stations covering the whole capital city and surroundings. No other operator has our number of base stations to provide the quality and speed customers want,” Angula said.