BY TIRI MASAWI
Telecom Namibia has grown its revenue by 2% after rolling out a strategic plan to upgrade network infrastructure and tackle customer complaints such as slow internet and poor connections.
The company’s chief executive officer Stanley Shanapinda told Namibia Business Review last week that they have so far spent about N$113 million on a country wide network infrastructure roll out.
He said the company initially set a budget of N$115 million for the project to be at par with competitors.
“We want to say thank you to our customers who have stood with us during this time. We have been facing our own challenges when it comes to internet delivery and accessibility and these include low internet speeds,” Shanapinda said.
He added that “we are riding the storm and we understand that the only other way we can deal with this is to create a robust infrastructure that responds to the growing needs of the client base.” .
According to Shanapinda, the company has set a target of about 77 network towers country wide..
“We have so far set up about 66 network towers. It is important to note that as a reward to our customers, we are looking at rebalancing our rates. As of 2026, we want to give our customers more at a reasonable price so we might improve the service drastically for the same price or the prices might actually be slightly lower,” he said.
Shanapinda said the company which celebrates 33 years this year has gone through different transformations. He said the company has made the largest investments in the country in terms of infrastructure and continues to grow annually.
“There is a myth that I would like to dispel for many people, Telecom is a viable commercial entity that services purely on a commercial basis. We have never been given a bailout by the government and we survive on our own revenue generation,” he said.
Shanapinda said the company has set its sights on gradual revenue growth and competing with other players.
“It is very difficult to keep staff in an industry like ours. We have in the past faced scenarios where we lose staff and in some cases when we have someone who is well qualified. It is important we try to keep them but there are also sometimes when we can not compete for the offers given outside,” he said.
COUNTERING CYBER ATTACKS
Telecom Namibia was hacked in late 2024 by cyber terrorists, who released sensitive data after the company refused to pay a ransom. Shanapinda this week said they have learned the hard way from the country’s challenges with cyber attacks. “We have acquired artificial intelligence to assist us in fighting these cyber attacks. In the past year, we experienced these attacks and that is something that taught us that we need to find ways of dealing with such. We would like to put Telecom Namibia in a position where it will be the one assisting other role players in dealing with cyber attacks,” he said.
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