Christmas 16 years in the making
Mbongeni Mguni | Friday January 9, 2015 16:18
The story goes that on a hot morning in February 1998, one of 25 phones in a large, open and new office rang and was answered by one John Motsie. The voice on the other end congratulated him, and the still fledgling company, Mascom, on being awarded one of the two licences to introduce cellular telephones into Botswana.
The charming anecdote continues by relating that Motsie “turned to the blackboard where the top 10 of over 100 things to do upon receipt of the licence were listed”.
Despite the mountains of challenges in those nascent years, Mascom and Vista (later Orange) were wildly successful, a fact evident in the latest numbers showing 158 phones for every 100 people in Botswana.
In fact, Botswana boasts one of the world’s highest mobile phone densities. From zero subscribers in 1998, the country’s three mobile phone operators boasted more than 3.2 million active lines by March 31, 2014.
In the 10 years up to March 2014, the number of mobile phone subscribers rose from 563,782 in March 2005, to 2.4 million in March 2010 to 3.2 million in March 2014.
The growth has resulted in a curious phenomenon where a country of two million residents has 3.2 million cellphone subscribers, due to many users owning one or more active subscriptions.
“Mobile telephony came at a time when people had been sitting in queues waiting for fixed line services and the (then) Botswana Telecommunications Corporation was unable to provide at that time,” explains Aaron Nyelesi, Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) corporate communication deputy director.
“They became a very good alternative.”
“A good alternative” indeed as at the time, fixed line teledensity was about 4.7 phone lines per 100 people!
In addition, where affordability issues stymied the take-off of mobile telephony in other countries, the comparatively wealthier market in middle income Botswana lapped up the new technology. The perfect storm of demand and availability resulted in the runaway growth of mobile telephony from 1998, with both Mascom and Orange exceeding their licence obligations for coverage.
As part of its licence, Mascom was obliged to roll out services between Gaborone and Kasane within an agreed period, while Orange had to do the same between Gaborone and Mamuno.
“They had indicated that doing this would take them some time, but they did it in less than the period they had expected,” says Nyelesi.
Government’s Nteletsa I and Nteletsa II, under which government pumped funds in to rolling out ICT infrastructure nationwide, also helped the two operators, break into previously unprofitable and virgin areas.
Not only did the coverage grow, but its quality did as well, starting from 1g (first generation) or voice and sms, to today’s 3g (third generation) services on which the social media miracle has been anchored.
As mobile density and the network grew, an attendant phenomenon was taking place in the prices of devices as well as the costs of accessing mobile phone services.
From 25 April 1998 when Mascom sold its first Motorola Startac model 85, device prices were high, but declined rapidly with greater uptake and the breakneck speed at which lower cost models and varieties were introduced.
The original models such as Motorola, Siemens and Nokia suddenly found themselves under pressure from newer, cheaper and more intelligent varieties lowering the price and making the market accessible to more Batswana.
“In 1998, mobile phones were almost for the elite, but now everyone can own one, even those working at the cattle post,” says Nyelesi.
“You can get one for P100 or less or buy another for P10,000 if you want. It is now a universal gadget and smartphones are now the in-thing due to the shift from voice to data. “We have noticed that every time new technology comes in, the old becomes cheaper. If a new iPhone comes in, the price of the old one goes down.”
The shift from voice and sms to data and the advent of cheap smartphones and data bundles, mean that today, most consumers have access to the Internet and social media via handheld devices.
In fact, while ADSL uptake has been tardy over the years at about 20,164 subscriptions as at March 2014, Internet access for the people has come via mobile telephony with a penetration of 49 percent in March 2014.
Government’s heavy investment into undersea cables on the eastern and western coasts of Africa has also meant a reduction in the cost of data, enabling more consumers to access the Internet and social media.
Cheap phones, declining data costs and a spreading network have created a nation enamoured with mobile telephony, especially among the youth. A quiet revolution has taken place within society, changes so subtle that they may only be observed carefully in hindsight.
Or over Christmas, where many physically spent the holidays with their families, but mentally were online enjoying the gifts of the mobile telephony miracle such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp.
“The advent of mobile telephony has affected the way we live both positively and negatively,” says Nyelesi.
“It has simplified the way we live and work through innovations such as mobile banking.
“I can buy electricity for my mother in Bobonong, while people at the cattle post can communicate with their herd boys even in remote areas.” Nyelesi recalls an event in Ncojane where mobile phone coverage was unavailable.
“If you wanted to talk to a colleague, even if he was a few kilometres away, you would have to drive there and perhaps you would find him out.”
It is not all roses and rainbows however.
“It has had a negative effect in schools where teachers are saying children are writing in sms shorthand or Facebook language instead of English.
“Culturally, people are being told of deaths on social media and even pictures shared where before the announcement was made properly. Criminals are also using mobile telephony to swindle victims or plan their crimes.”
Like it or not, the mobile market is ballooning. “Someone joked that in the future, we will not even need to come together for bogadi. We will just ask for the account number and wire the money instead of getting up early to negotiate,” recalls Nyelesi.
Sounds funny, but at the rate mobile telephony is growing, who can discount the chance?
John looked forward to communicating with a Mascom Motorola Startac model 85 to his first customer on April 25, 1998. Sweet 16 years ago.