ICT contributions jump on mobile subscriptions

Information Commutation Technology ( ICT) contributed P1, 2 billion to the total GDP in the first three months of 2022 with mobile phone subscriptions rising to over 4.2 million and fixed telephone continues to decline.

According to a report from Statistics Botswana, the contribution of the ICT sector to the economy stood at 2.7 percent of total GDP at current prices while Postal and Courier Services amounted to 0.1 percent of total GDP. “At constant prices, the ICT sector contributed P1, 224.1 billion of value added which is 2.5 percent of total GDP. The Postal and Courier Services sector produced a value added of P45.0 million at constant prices, thus contributing 0.1 percent of total GDP.”

Mobile cellular phone subscriptions increased by two percent from 4,160,553 recorded to 4,243,124. Considering the total population of Botswana being 2,359,609 people it means each person owns about two or more phones. Fixed telephone line subscriptions declined by 31.7 percent in the first three months of 2022 from 132,457 registered in the last quarter of 2021 to 90,518. Internet subscriptions decreased by 0.4 percent from the 2,557,538 subscriptions realised in Q4 2021 to 2,547,335.