Mascom Unaware of MTN Take Over Plans

Botswana’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, Mascom Wireless, has denied having any knowledge of alleged plans by South African telecoms group MTN to fully acquire the company. 


An industry insider told Botswana newspaper Gazette Business that takeover discussions between the two parties were at an advanced stage, with a full takeover and rebranding likely to take place in the next two years. 


MTN already indirectly holds a 53% stake in Mascom.


 Responding to the claims, Mascom’s communications and public relations manager, Tebogo Lebotse said in a written statement that ‘Mascom can, however, confirm it is not aware of any plans or developments of a takeover and therefore cannot comment on the consequent impact on the operational structure of Mascom.’

Advisors Hired to Steer BTC Privatisation in Botswana

Botswana newspaper the Sunday Standard has reported that a consortium of members from Deloitte and local law firm Collins Newman & Co has been hired to advise on the privatisation of Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC). 

The pair won the tender, which was launched late last year, beating off competition from four other local consortiums. ‘Their role as advisors will be to undertake evaluation of BTC assets, develop due diligence, build a structure of shares as well as ensure transaction closures at BTC,’ the Public Enterprises Evaluation and Privatisation Agency (PEEPA) stated.

In November 2010 president of Botswana, Ian Khama, confirmed plans to privatise incumbent telco BTC through an initial public offering (IPO) by April 2011. Under the sale plans a 49% stake will be sold to investors and BTC employees, while the government will retain the remaining 51%.

Shares will be sold to citizens in stages on the condition that when investors wish to dispose of their shares, the government will have the first option to buy them back.

SEACOM Expands to Five More African Countries

East African submarine cable operator SEACOM has announced that its services are now accessible from five additional African nations: Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. The network expansion is coupled with increasing resilience through its recent acquisition of east and west coast submarine cable capacity. SEACOM’s approach of partnering with established players to provide broadband services will continue as it develops its products and services based on resiliency, service quality and flexibility in line with customers’ evolving needs.

Suveer Ramdhani, SEACOM’s Head of Product Strategy, said: ‘This latest development is integral to the continued development and expansion of the SEACOM network in Africa and in particular to countries that have had limited access to broadband connectivity. We will continue to build relationships to meet our customers’ growing need for resilient and seamless capacity. This is part of SEACOM’s objective to build the African internet.

Infraco To Launch Broadband In November

Broadband Infraco, the new State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) that will sell high capacity long distance transmission services to network service providers in South Africa, has confirmed that it will unveil its new ZAR1 billion (USD144.1 million) network during the third week of November.

The company has been plagued by licensing issues since its inception three years ago. The Broadband Infraco Act of 2007 stipulates that telecoms regulator the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) is obliged to issue Broadband Infraco both an Individual-Electronic Communications Network Services (I-ECNS) licence and an Electronic Communication Services (ECS) licence.

However, commercial ISPs objected to it receiving an ECS licence, as they claimed it would give the company an unfair advantage. In January 2010 ICASA bowed to communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda's policy directive, and only awarded the I-ECNS concession.

Broadband Infraco has since confirmed that it will operate exclusively within a wholesale business model, targeting both fixed and mobile operators, as well as internet service providers. Licensed operators may buy multiple capacity increments of 155Mbps - up to 10Gbps. Broadband Infraco’s lowest capacity service reportedly offers transmission speeds akin to 20 HD movies being screened simultaneously.

CEO Dave Smith commented: ‘In anticipation of receiving the I-ECNS licence, Broadband Infraco installed some 11,765km of fibre optic cable connecting Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban and other large metropolitan centres including Bloemfontein, Kimberley, Port Elizabeth, East London, Nelspruit and Polokwane. The award of the Electronic Communications Services (ECS) licence from ICASA is the remaining piece of the puzzle for Broadband Infraco to deliver entirely on all aspects of its statutory mandate in accordance with applicable legislation’. According to Broadband Infraco, its network also extends connectivity to the borders of South Africa’s neighbouring countries, namely: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland. The fibre-optic cables are scalable up to hundreds of gigabits of data per second, depending on future growth.

BTC IPO For Next Year

Botswana’s Public Enterprises Evaluation and Privatisation Agency (PEEPA) has said that an initial public offering (IPO) for fixed line incumbent Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) is likely to take place after the end of the operator’s financial year in March 2011.

Local news source Mmegi Online reports that a 49% stake in BTC will be sold to investors and BTC employees, while the government will retain the remaining 51%. Commenting on BTC’s privatisation, Kgotla Ramaphane, CEO of PEEPA, said: ‘The process involves the appointment of advisers for the IPO and many other stakeholders,’ Ramaphane noted, adding: ‘We are working towards the end of the financial year, which is March 2011.

At this time, we should know the date for the IPO. However, there is a lot of groundwork and further discussions to be had before we can arrive there.’ According to the operator’s spokesperson Anno Tsie, discussions will involve the number of shares that will be set aside for BTC employees, as well as the price of shares and the listing requirements for the Botswana Stock Exchange.

The privatisation of BTC was first mooted in June 2006, with initial plans envisaging the sale of between 40% and 49% of the telco to a strategic investor and a 5% share to BTC employees. The remaining shares would be retained by the government for a future stock market listing. The first stage of the privatisation began in January 2007, with a tender put out for ‘advisory services’.

In February 2008 PEEPA signed a contract with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to act as transactional advisor in the privatisation. The IFC completed due diligence in November 2008 and in 2009 the Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (Transition) Bill was enacted in parliament, which established BTC as a public company under the Company Act.

BTC Privatisation Plans On

The government of Botswana has reaffirmed its goal of privatising incumbent telecoms operator Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC), local newspaper The Sunday Standard reports. Presidential affairs minister Lesego Motsumi told parliament that ‘the cabinet has now taken a decision on the privatisation structure of BTC and the information will soon be communicated with all stakeholders.’

Motsumi added that the process was delayed because the government had to carry out lengthy consultation activities with all of the telco’s stakeholders in a bid to minimise risks and maximise benefits.

The privatisation of BTC was first mooted in June 2006, with initial plans envisaging the sale of between 40% and 49% of the telco to a strategic investor and a 5% share to BTC employees. The remaining shares would be retained by the government for a future stock market listing.

The first stage of the privatisation began in January 2007, with a tender put out for 'advisory services'. In February 2008 the Public Enterprises Evaluation and Privatisation Agency (PEEPA) signed a contract with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to act as transactional advisor in the privatisation. The IFC completed due diligence in November 2008 and in 2009 the Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (Transition) Bill was enacted in parliament.

Botswana Extends SIM registration Deadline

The Botswana Telecommunications Authority (BTA) has pushed back the deadline for the nation’s mobile subscribers to register their SIM cards, the Sunday Standard reports.

Pre-paid customers of Botswana’s three wireless operators – Mascom Wireless, Orange Botswana and BTC Mobile (beMOBILE) – were originally given until 31 December 2009 to register their SIMs or face the disconnection of their service, but the deadline has since been extended to 31 January 2010.

According to BTA spokesperson Aaron Nyelesi, 85% of mobile users have registered their details, 45% of which have not yet been processed by the system. ‘We are presently converting information that we captured from paper to electronic database. After the process is complete we will then cut off the customers who have not registered,’ he added.

The BTA hopes that the registration of numbers will help the country better plan and expand the telecoms industry, as well as help curb crime. From 1 January 2010 new pay-as-you-go SIMs will be activated only after electronic registration has taken place.

Botswana SIM Registration At Just 13%

Only 13% of Botswana's pre-paid mobile phone users have registered their SIM cards, despite the deadline of 31 December 2009 fast approaching, writes local newspaper the Sunday Standard, citing the Botswana Telecommunications Agency's (BTA's) public relations officer Twoba Koontse.

According to Koontse, only 267,113 pre-paid cell phone subscribers have registered since the BTA made the process mandatory from 15 September 2008. 'I am obviously not happy as the numbers of those who have registered now are by far below what we expected to have registered by now,' he commented.

The BTA has asked the country's three wireless operators, Mascom Wireless, Orange Botswana and beMOBILE, to launch campaigns to inform customers about the importance of registering their phones, and has warned users that it maintains its stance to disconnect all unregistered pre-paid mobile lines after 31 December.

Orange Botswana Orders New Billing System From Volubill

Orange Botswana has ordered a billing platform from Volubill to unify charging and access control for all mobile broadband access. Volubill's says that its solution is network independent and provides support to adapt to all data and service architectures.

It handles subscriber usage of IP services including data, content, messaging, VoIP and downloads, and provides capabilities like deep packet inspection (DPI), access control, policy management and traffic shaping, and user experience management for both simple Internet access or content-rich premium services.

When partnered with Volubill's CONTROL-IT product, CHARGE-IT enables end-to-end real-time control, charging and policy management for advanced services.

"Botswana's telecommunications market has grown so fast that operators like Orange Botswana are encountering many of the operational challenges that more established-market providers have been facing for years," said John Aalbers, CEO, Volubill.

"In choosing CHARGE-IT for increased control of pricing and charging policies for advanced service packages, Orange Botswana is better equipped to continue providing a high quality experience and compelling pricing packages to their subscribers. We are proud to have established this partnership with Orange Botswana to help them meet their ongoing business goals."

Orange Botswana Choses Alvarion for WiMAX Project

Alvarion says that it has won a contract from Orange Botswana for a turnkey WiMAX deployment, using its 4Motion end-to-end solution. The commercial network built at the 2.5 GHz frequency band enables Orange Botswana to provide advanced data services to businesses and homes in Gaborone and Francistown, Botswana’s two largest cities with a total population of over 330,000.

The first network was launched in June 2008 in Gaborone – Botswana’s capital and one of the fastest-growing cities in Africa. Following this successful deployment Orange Botswana increased the coverage in Gaborone and launched a second network in Francistown – an important center for industry and commerce, in November 2008. Future extensions of the networks are planned in other areas throughout the country.

“WiMAX enables a whole new wireless broadband experience for our customers,” said Wilfried Yver Head of Internet Service Provider of Orange Botswana. “We are confident that Alvarion’s proven global expertise in wireless broadband technologies and commitment to WiMAX will help us bring superior Internet service to our end-users, now and in the future. Alvarion’s innovative technology and complete offering enables us to answer the immediate need for high-quality, yet reasonably priced Internet access in the urban areas of the country. Our subscribers are already enjoying the benefits of the technology and we are very interested in the new opportunities 802.16e WiMAX could bring to this market.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Alvarion is also providing Orange Botswana with project management and implementation capabilities including network planning, network dimensioning, installation, technical support and professional services.

Botswana’s population is nearing two million with one of the lowest Internet penetration rates in the world of just above 4%.