The Minister of Transport and Communications, Nonofo Molefhi told a workshop this week that the national broadband strategy will be formulated through a holistic and coordinated approach by government. He said the development of a broadband strategy is an important event as Botswana strives to be among the competitive countries using the technology to revolutionise the way services are delivered. He said broadband access has been recognised worldwide as an accelerator of economic development and increasingly, its connectivity is recognised as enabling major improvements in economic and social wellbeing in any economy. "It is for this reason that our government made significant investments in national ICT infrastructure development and international connectivity," he told the just-ended workshop for the development of a National Broadband Strategy. He said the past 15 years have been an extraordinary time for the development of ICTs in Botswana. During the period, the country liberalised its telecommunications market by licencing mobile phone service providers.
"With the mobile revolution, Botswana has brought ICTs and their benefits within reach of virtually all of the country's people in every district and in most villages," he said. Botswana's three mobile phone service providers with three million subscriptions indicating a penetration level of over 150%. Therefore the minister said the wireless technology would continue playing a significant role in the delivery of broadband services in Botswana "due to the fact that we have a sparse population and it may not be economical to universally use wire line technologies".
