Namibia Wishes to Connect Everyone

The Republic of Namibia is a vast, sparsely populated country situated on the south Atlantic coast of Africa. The new government has encouraged the development of ICT, and now the main cities in Namibia are connected. However, the rural areas are still not connected. Recently, ZTE Technologies interviewed Hon. Tjekero Tweya, Minister of Information and Communication Technology in Namibia. He talked about his biggest achievement, priorities for Namibia’s telecom sector,  and the challenges and opportunities facing his ministry. He also shared with us his expectations for ZTE and his future prospects for Namibia’s telecom sector.

 

Now that I know what the challenges are, my first priority is to ensure there is network coverage across the whole country, including rural areas, where the majority of Namibians will have affordable access to the network. Communities must have good access to the internet.
In Namibia, we already have what we call e-police, which is to use electronic systems to track down the criminals, to record incidence that we can share with the communities, and to allow the communities to get in touch with the police. Furthermore, hospitals can also use these electronic systems. This is why a network must be available.
Moreover, new construction in the private sector needs to have network through access or through telephones. It will enable the growth of SMEs so they can have access to tender opportunities provided  by the government. If they don’t have access to internet, it will be very difficult for them to know these opportunities exist within the government. It literately confines the people in towns and excludes these rural communities.
If the network is available, it will open the way for public and private use. They both will have access to information through network. Furthermore, this will also grow the private sector in that we will have small telecom shops to sell computers, and open up job opportunities for the young people. Many of them are trained, but they don’t have the opportunity to use their skills. With networks, they can fix small electronics, and their skills can be used.

 

Namibia’s vision 2030, clearly says that by 2030, we want to have a knowledge-based society. At that time, Namibia should be at a development level like a developed country; it will be developed by the people.
At present, people can’t develop the country if they don’t have the knowledge. Technology will increase knowledge across all sectors. For example, you must have the knowledge to use computer.
With the computer, you will have information about how to fix a radio, you will learn information about tourism and specific medication that you may need, and you will get information about job opportunities, studying opportunities and investment opportunities that exist in the specific areas or in the country.
You must have knowledge for manufacturing and making things happen. For example, we have a lot of minerals in Namibia. We have uranium, diamond, gold and others. What is happening now? Because we don’t have the knowledge with diamond, we must export these elsewhere, where value is added to them. Then we buy a diamond through a ring, and this ring is put on the gold. We can’t manufacture them by ourselves, so we must have the knowledge to make the equipment, to polish the diamond, and to form and design the ring.
When we milk a cow, we will have the knowledge to produce yoghourt, butter, cheese, and other things. However, at this moment, we only see milk and we finish it because we lack knowledge. From milk, there are many other by-products that we can get. Entering into a knowledge-base society, it is what we want Namibia to look like by 2030.

 

How is the competition in Namibia’s telecom market?
At the moment, we don’t have many competitors, and the environment for telecommunications is still very relaxed. Network coverage is only 70 per cent of the country. It is only confined to urban areas, but the majority of the people are not in the urban areas. That’s why we go to rural areas, schools and agriculture. The agriculture is a major sector of our economy. If it is excluded, what competition are we talking about? We must bring it into the mainstream, and then we can talk about competition.
Because we only got one or two operators, they are making it inaccessible to many because of the high rate. You know, it is governed by demand and supply. If there are several operators, it will bring the cost down so that the price is affordable. Consumers will then be able to choose what they can afford. For now, they are forced to accept whatever price existing operators gave them. I think the price in Namibia is unaffordable for many.
Therefore, I’m inviting players to come because this is an opportunity for investment. There is room for more investors, and the environment is not so competitive. The only challenge is the current players who may not want new players to come onboard, because they are dictating the prices. We want all Namibians to participate, but at the rate they are charging, it automatically excludes the majority from participation, so it is an economy of exclusivity.
We want to change it to be more inclusive. All the people including the poor and the unemployed have access to these facilities. For now, it is very expensive, and there are only few holding up the economy. These few are delaying the annual goals of economy, because the overall potential is not released to the full. Here is my invitation to open up the potential.

 

The first challenge, obviously, is to change the attitude of the people. The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology was merely doing with information, less emphasis on the communication, the development of technology, and the acquisition of new technology.
The second challenge is that it has always been confined to the government, less to the private sector.
The opportunity is that the sector should include public and private. In other words, in the public sector, all ministries at the Prime Minister through e-government should use the technology to convey information. That’s how the information to be conveyed to all government ministries, and then the government ministries in all regions to inform the people in the rural areas. However, they must have access to that information.
At the same time, the private sector should contribute to the economy. Lately, Bank of Namibia has announced that it intends facing out the payment systems with normal checks, but through electronic payment. Now this is an opportunity for further investment in the ICT sector.
In Namibia, we pay pensions to anyone 60 years or older. Currently, they receive it through the post office. When it is paid, everybody must go and queue. If we use technology, all payment can be done over the internet. Old people wouldn’t need to go and queue, and expose themselves to criminals, to be attacked or to be stolen. Instead, they can go anytime to withdraw any amount that they need. With internet, people’s living standard has been improved a lot.
Now, the case is that if they have all the cash, they spend it, because business people would give them credit or sell things to them at a very high price, their money will be spent in one day, so these are opportunities.
Apart from the challenges, the opportunities are enormous. For example, doctors can use internet to dispose their medicare fully in electronic, the patients don’t need to queue at the hospital to remind the doctors to do further research. With the internet, doctors will know what is happening in the country with different diseases, etc. At this moment, they do operations only at few major centers, and they can use electronic equipment to do minimally invasive surgery. So that’s the investment opportunity in Namibia. We have plenty of growth opportunities for public and private.
The construction industry can also use the internet. In construction industry, people can use technology to design houses. They will know how many cement and bricks they need, and how long the construction period will take. All these can be achieved through the internet. In addition, it will need more people to work, so the ICT sector will create job opportunities for people. Many people are worried that computers will make them jobless, but the truth is that if they use technology properly, it is actually a job creator.

 

Over the past nine months, it has been my priority to connect rural areas. I intend connecting the whole country by networks. It is the only way. Firstly, we have to build the infrastructure, that’s why I invited the private sectors to provide network coverage.
We don’t have towers, antennas or microwaves. In some areas, we don’t have conventional electricity or set-lights, so people don’t have access to the services, television, internet or mobile phone. That depends on technology connectivity. Now, the priority is really to have coverage throughout the whole country; it is also a challenge.
I take this as a challenge to create opportunities. I believe that as we invest more in young people, we will create a more conducive environment for learners because they will have access to internet learning. By doing that, I believe we will get an improved outcome in education to create more learners who intend to become future engineers, technicians, architect, lawyers, doctors, politicians, professors, teachers and pilots.

 

ZTE has been clear that it must be trustable in the relationship. Although I’m inviting people to come and invest in Namibia, they must have the right attitude as partners. Partner simply means partner; they must not have selfish intentions. If they do, they are not welcome.
ZTE has a clear business philosophy of respecting partners and viewing Namibia as an equal partner, so it is most welcome.
Moreover, I believe that ZTE needs to expand its business. It has the technology and the know-how. We have the raw materials; we have people who need skills; and we have the market. These are issues that we can bring together. If we work and respect each other, we can have a win-win situation. Win-win means we have our needs and ZTE has their needs too. If we work together, we can both fulfill and satisfy our needs, not the one satisfies itself at expense of the other one.

 

What are your expectations for ZTE in the future?

Well, my expectation is ZTE can go to see what my country is going through. It is my hope that ZTE will become a real reliable and trustable partner in the development.
ZTE will see opportunities to expand its businesses and grow. ZTE can also use my country as a springboard to a big market in Africa through South Africa Development Community (SADC). Through Namibia, ZTE’s equipment can be introduced into the sub-regions. My country has an international facility in our office base, and we can use it to ship equipment for the distribution in the region. ZTE can become a strategy partner by using Namibia to start a sampling plant. Through that, it can penetrate the continent.
My country, geographically, is huge. We are considering building a R&D center, sampling plant or training facility in the region. My country is peaceful and stable. This is an incentive for any investor, because they need a peaceful and stable politically environment to do what they need to do. Moreover, we have invested in the physical old infrastructure. Our old infrastructure is very reliable, stable and predictable. With its business philosophy, ZTE can partner with Namibia and go long; I think ZTE is the right partner to enter the continent from the savvy point of view.
In the region, Namibia is already the top four in the digital area, i.e., the digital terrestrial television (DTT). We are a leader in the region, so we already have a good record. If ZTE don’t have Namibia as a partner, what better partner does it need in the region?

 

Could you tell us your future prospects for Namibia’s telecom sector?

My prospect is that Namibia can be fully covered by networks; people can fully enjoy accessibility to all technological devices. I’m a part of Namibia, as our president said, “Let all Namibians feel at home, and no one inside the Namibia’ house should feel left out.” That is not only for Namibians, but also for the visitors, investors, and everybody that comes to Namibia. When you are in Namibia, we want you to feel that you are a part of Namibia.
Therefore, the policy of exclusivity can’t be tolerated in Namibia. We want to give everyone a chance to access whatever information is being shared in the house, to communicate and stay together for a better future that all of us are prosperous and have decent lives. We are fighting poverty; we don’t believe in poverty reduction, we say poverty eradication. No poverty is good for everyone, and we want everyone to have a prosperous life.