Botswana falls in ICT rankings
Pauline Dikuelo | Friday April 17, 2015 15:55
The report stated that out of the 148 countries that had participated in the survey, Botswana has slipped one spot down to position 104 although it maintained a quality score rating of 3.4, which was the same as last year.
Whilst the communication rates have been reducing in recent years, the rankings indicate that tariffs are still comparatively very high and Internet and telephony competition is still not among the best.
Chairman of the Botswana Internet Service Provider’s Association, Semere Tekie noted that the is a primary problem affecting this industry and surely other industries too.
“We need to figure out how these lower prices in the market and new investments by the private sector can create employment and prosperity, which in turn can create a bigger market.
Affordability is driven not only by price, but also by disposable income the latter of which has stagnated over a long period,” he said. The report further indicates that like other developing countries, Botswana has not fully exploited the potential of ICT to drive social and economic transformation and catch up with advanced nations, which resulted in the minimal economic impacts. “The economic impacts of ICT remain minimal. There is limited impact of ICT on new services and products and on new Organisations models,” states the report. Due to challenges the country faces around infrastructure; particularly in the production of electricity, limited network access, low and relatively costly bandwith, international Internet bandwith, mobile network coverage and secure Internet, services are ranked very low. Government’s efforts to fully invest in ICT have been fruitful as the report shows that government usage of ICT is ranked well than usage of individuals and businesses.
However, government action to address the digital divides has been regarded as necessary, more so that efforts must be made to encourage individuals to participate in the digital economy.
It is also noted that government leadership in the creation of a good regulatory and business environment with competitive ICT markets is a fundamental requirement.
Meanwhile, Botswana’s strong performance in the rankings categories still remains the political and regulatory environment boasting of a top fifty ranking. In addition law making bodies within the country are still considered to be effective as Botswana has been ranked amongst the top fifty countries on effectiveness of legal systems in settling disputes and challenging regulations.
An admirable achievement was also recorded on the individual mobile broadband and phone subscriptions, as the country was ranked among the top 20 in the world. Since 2010, Botswana has been conducting a feasibility study for the country to become a regional ICT hub and embarking on several measures to stimulate and adopt ICT as a critical economic driver. Minister of Transport and Communications, Tshenolo Mabeo, recently launched the groundbreaking for installation optic Fibre backbone projects, which is expected to enhance connectivity thus enabling efficiency.
Botswana Fibre Networks (BoFiNet) also launched two projects, which are expected to improve Internet access and connectivity to operators and the business community across the country, in a bid to boost e-commerce.
The projects, dubbed wholesale Wi-Fi and Fibre-to-the-X will deploy Fibre networks and Wi-Fi hotspots in strategic locations in the country, covering close to 600 sites including hospitals, schools and hotels.