Telecom Namibia (TN) plans to commercially deploy 5G services in 2026.
As reported by ITWeb Africa this week, Dr. Stanley Shanapinda, CEO of Telecom Namibia, made the comments during a session held by the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology based around the carrier's mobile strategy.
In March, TN started 5G testing along with Chinese vendor Huawei, a company which it signed a $5.3 million agreement with to deliver a fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) core network last year.
Shanapinda reportedly said that TN has its sights set on closing the gap with rival telco Mobile Telecoms Company (MTC), which carried out Namibia's first 5G technology demonstration in Windhoek on March 18, 2024.
TN's CEO also confirmed that the telco is on course to achieve its target of deploying 500 towers over the course of five years.
Giving an update this week, he stated that 77 of these sites are expected to be live by the end of the year.
The company said the expansion will enable support for both urban and rural parts of the country.
As part of the rollout, TN said it has successfully launched pilot sites in Cimbebasia and Goreangab.
"By introducing additional LTE frequencies of 700 MHz and 800 MHz, these new base stations will not only expand network coverage but also significantly improve data speeds and overall network performance," said the telco.
