Botswana’ mobile market penetration is approaching 160%, one of the highest in Africa, according to the latest report on the country’s telecommunications sector by analyst firm Fast Market Research in a report.
The report said effective regulatory reform has turned the country’s telecom market into one of the most liberalised in the region.
“There is a service-neutral licensing regime which takes into account the increasing convergence of technologies and services,” the report said.
The report noted that popular use of multiple SIM cards from different operators has delayed the introduction of mobile number portability, with the telecom regulator not convinced of the facility’s economic benefits at present.
Fast Market Research said in a bid to increase revenue and increase market share, the three mobile network operators, Mascom Wireless, which is a unit of South Africa’s MTN, Orange Botswana, which is supported by France Telecom/Orange and BeMobile, which is owned by the state run Botswana Telecommunications Corporation have entered the broadband sector.
In the broadband market, the three operators are competing with a large number of ISPs, some of which have rolled out their own wireless access infrastructure, the report noted.
