BTC network infrastructure investment pays off
Botswana Telecommunication ( BTC) has managed to effectively respond to the high broadband demand, following the company’s heavy investment on its networks infrastructure, authorities at the company have revealed.
“We leveraged our digital investments in the LTE network, FTTX investment, VSAT and cloud technologies ( data centre) to deliver on the high demand in broadband brought about by COVID- 19,” said BTC Board Chairperson, Lorato Boakgomo- Ntakhwana in the company’s annual report for 2021.
She said the digital transformation is part of the company’s efforts to realise enhanced efficiencies and maximize the utilization of technologies, being rolled out under a threeyear blueprint. This comes after the company’s previous strategy, where the company made significant investment in the network infrastructure. “We see technology and digitisation as a vehicle to the provision of solutions to the nation’s challenges,” said Boakgomo- Ntakhwana.
She highlighted that during the first year of a three- year strategy, the company embarked on Phase 1 de- coppering plan in Gaborone and Jwaneng, replacing copper with fibre, resulting in a lower fault rate and improved customer experience.
“We have embarked on an FTTH plan to replace copper with fibre that has improved customer experience and is expected to reduce CAPEX and OPEX. By using fibre as a last mile connection, the deployment of FTTH will reduce active cabinets per locality while delivering speeds that were not possible through copper,” said Boakgomo- Ntakhwana.
Apart from improving operations, Boakgomo- Ntakhwana said the transformation is expected to make BTC, lead in the 4th industrial revolution, being more value to shareholders.
Sharing the same sentiments, BTC Managing Director, Anthony Masunga said: “BTC has positioned itself to be the market