Following the lifting of the moratorium on 5G by the Government and the successful allocation of the 5G spectrum by the Communication Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) to the telco players in Namibia, the country’s digital driver, MTC, in collaboration with Huawei Technology, has today (18 March 2024) conducted Namibia’s official and first ever 5G trial, clocking a speed of 1.4 Gigabit per second (gbps).
Present at the trial, was Emma Theofelus, Minister of Information, Communications and Technology, described the event as a milestone for the country, emphasizing the importance of adopting the latest technology to drive national development.
“This trial is groundbreaking and historic. It symbolizes Namibia’s stride and commitment to putting technology at the centre of driving the national development agenda. Namibia is pursuing to be industrialized by the year 2030, and as technology keeps evolving, we can only achieve that vision if we keep up with the latest technology that can aid and is favourable towards fourth industrial revolution. As a government, we assure you our commitment to continuously review, reform, and or enact policies needed to facilitate the national development agenda. The opportunities that come with 5G are vast, and the onus is upon us to ensure that we take full leverage, because with 5G, the foundation for providing e-governance, e-commerce, and e-health is cemented with superior and faster connectivity.”
Theofelus conceded that compared to peers in the region, Namibia has lacked behind in adopting 5G technology, hence advised that as a nation, to always keep abreast and apprised on serious trends to avoid falling for fabricated propagandas meant to delay development.
Enthused MTC’s Managing Director, Dr. Licky Erastus – “As a digital enabler, we are proud to have successfully trialed the 5G network connectivity. “Our full roll-out implementation, commercialization and go to market strategy is pending, “said Erastus.
Expressed Erastus further that MTC ‘s future focus is to bring this superior and faster connectivity to business enterprises that aim to innovate, enhance their operations, and deliver improved stakeholder satisfaction. Institutions from all sectors can already pre-engage our commercial teams.”
Erastus concluded with emphasis on the importance of smart collaboration, acknowledging Huawei as MTC technology partner. “In our digital drive to facilitate innovation, digitalisation, Internet of Things etc., smart cooperation (s) is indispensable. Through our partnership with Huawei Technology, the long-term perspective is to provide a technological ecosystem underpinned by 5G; and upon which a backbone of the Namibian digital economy is formed. Preceding the imminent 5G full rollout, this trial is essential, and we are pleased with the speed results which is 1.4 gigabits per second – achieved today.
Managing Director of Huawei Namibia, Michael Zhang at the event said that “Huawei, we are committed, we will work closely with MTC to deploy cutting-edge technologies to ensure the fast and high quality 5G deployments, and to innovate together to bring more 5G services to our people, communities, companies, and industries. We believe 5G will be a significant driver and enabler to our social and digital life and economy.”
MTC trial took place at a its Olympia Headquarters and delivered impressive throughput results compared to current standards. For consumers, this means higher-quality video and multimedia content can be delivered faster via increased capacity and bandwidth. For businesses, this means potentials to transform performance and user experience beyond what is currently possible with existing network capabilities, including across mobile broadband, fixed wireless, and industrial applications such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Augmented Reality (AR).
The 5G technology is touted as a revolutionary game-changer that guarantees low latency, higher capacity, and increased bandwidth that brings maximum efficiency to conducting business.