1 October 2012

Employees of Telecom Namibia have received increases in salaries, following negotiations on wages and benefits between the company’s management and the Namibia Public Workers Union (Napwu).

As per the agreement reached by the two parties on September 20 this year, the increases in salaries will be implemented from October 1. Basic salaries for employees in the Paterson job grades A2 to C3 will have their salaries increased by 8%. Employees in the job grade C-Upper will have a 6% increase and the total packages for employees in job grades D1 to D3 will also be increased by 6%. The monthly housing allowance for employees in job grades A2 to A3 will be increased by N$100, and their monthly transport allowance will be increased by N$80.

“This agreement, in my estimation, is a good one since it captures the principles of inflation-based adjustments.

This agreement reflects the maturity of the leadership of Telecom Namibia and Napwu.It shows that Telecom Namibia cares about the quality of life for our most important resource - our employees,” said Telecom Namibia’s Managing Director Frans Ndoroma, before he signed the agreement on 26 September.

Ndoroma also said the agreement reflects their awareness of the realities of the macro-economic environment in which Telecom Namibia operates as a business. He stated that the agreement balances the impact of inflation and the sustainability of escalating labour costs.

“When labour costs are allowed to run wild, they present risks to jobs and levels of employment,” noted Ndoroma. He further said that the negotiations for increases in salaries were conducted within a commendable spirit, which served the interests of all the parties concerned - particularly the Telecom Namibia employees. He applauded the outstanding leadership displayed by the negotiating teams of the two parties, as the agreement was reached in a record period of two days.

Napwu General Secretary Petrus Nevonga hailed the agreement as a real significant achievement, when one takes into consideration the numerous media reports about protracted and destructive wage negotiations that are currently taking place in the country. He thanked the negotiating teams of the two parties for working hard and tirelessly to secure the agreement without the involvement of outside entities.

MEDIA RELEASE
20 September 2012

The Telecom Namibia Information Communication Technology (ICT) Summit will be held at the Safari Hotel & Conference Centre in Windhoek from 9-11 October 2012.

The Summit is the major ICT event on the Namibian calendar and takes place annually since 2007.

This year, the Summit celebrates its sixth anniversary and it has become a unique and powerful platform for all the key players to come together to share information, learn from each other, and discuss and identify measures to address issues that emerge from the wide-scale application and rapid development of ICTs.

Coinciding with the 20th Anniversary of Telecom Namibia, the Summit will look at the revolution that transformed the IT and telecommunications sector in Namibia and Telecom Namibia, as the key player, over the past 20 years.

Information communication technologies (ICTs) are improving at a fascinating rate. ICTs are not simply a way of organising business to improve efficiency and increase competitiveness. The ICT services and infrastructure that enable the digital economy are now increasingly becoming an integral part of everyday lives. They encompass business, education, freedom of speech, entertainment, as well as social inclusion and health, reaching out to improve the well-being of peoples across the globe.

Thus the theme for this year’s event is, “ICT – an integral part of everyday lives,” which provides an opportunity for ICT users, policy makers, industry players and the sector itself to interrogate how best the ICT potential – through social inclusion - can be harnessed to achieve real sustainable development for business, society and the environment as Namibia moves towards Vision 2030. Since education, knowledge, information and communication are at the core of human progress, endeavour and well-being in the digital economy, ICTs have an immense impact on virtually all aspects of our lives.

Through a series of high-level speeches, debates, interviews and case studies, our distinguished speaker line-up will look at the enormous potential of ICT to boost economic development and improve Namibia's competitiveness, by leading to new sources of growth and addressing key societal challenges we are facing as we forge ahead with the implementation of NDP-4. There will be a strong focus on how the industry players, the regulator, policymakers can work together to promote ICT penetration in the country.

One biggest challenge to be addressed by the Summit is how to harness the potential of ICT to create an inclusive society, to promote the development goals of NDP-4, namely the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger; achievement of universal primary education; promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women; reduction of child mortality; improvement of maternal health; to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; and ensuring environmental sustainability.

There are also a number of key questions to be answered. How best can we empower the poor, particularly those living in remote, rural and marginalised urban areas, to access information and knowledge? How can we promote IT literacy? How can we shape ICT progress and how to ensure that Namibian citizens and businesses can make the best out of it?

Many ICT companies will be showcasing their products and services and close to 600 delegates are expected to attend the Summit. The event programme has an impressive line-up of local and international experts, who will deliver presentations and participate in panel discussions and workshops.

Members of the public who want to participate in the Summit are requested to register online at www.ictsummit.telecom.na

ISSUED BY:
Oiva Angula

Telecom Namibia partners with Jasco Co-location Solutions to deliver faster, cheaper Internet

NewTelco South Africa signs Telecom Namibia contract, sets up international POP in London

23 August 2012

Telecom Namibia has entered into a partnership with NewTelco South Africa, represented by Jasco Co-location Solutions, to deliver four international Points of Presence (PoPs) connected into the WACS undersea cable that became active in May 2012. These PoPs, located in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Frankfurt and London, will be designed, procured and built by NewTelco SA for exclusive use by Telecom Namibia. As part of the partnership agreement, Telecom Namibia will also be making use of NewTelco’s existing infrastructure until dedicated infrastructure is built. A number of global carriers are already connected into the service.

After South Africa, Namibia is only the second country to extend the reach of their network into Europe on the WACS cable. The partnership between Telecom Namibia and NewTelco SA is a pioneering step in connecting Africa to the world, removing the reliance of many African telecoms operators on third parties to connect internationally and driving down the cost of communications for the continent.

When selecting a partner, Telecom Namibia went out to tender with a very specific set of criteria that needed to be met. One of the conditions was for a company with a global reach and existing experience in building PoPs around the world. Telecom Namibia also required a partner skilled at systems integration to bring together products and equipment from a variety of vendors and provide a single point of contact, as well as a partner with the critical mass required to provide financing for infrastructure and provide the use of such infrastructure back to them. The Jasco Group as a whole is well known for its systems integration expertise, and thanks to NewTelco SA’s partnership with NewTelco GmbH, a German company with co-location hubs in 25 locations including major world capitals and years of global experience, Jasco Co-location Solutions was the ideal partner.

“In order to connect to global telecommunications providers, Telecom Namibia needed space in a data centre as well as a partner to manage and maintain services. NewTelco SA, through our ties to NewTelco GmbH, is perfectly positioned to deliver on Telecom Namibia’s requirements and fulfil this role. This partnership is a breakthrough in global Internet connectivity for Namibia, as the country previously relied on routing traffic through South Africa,” says Eckart Zollner, Business Development Manager for Jasco Co-location Solutions.

For Telecom Namibia this partnership enables cheaper, more direct interconnections with other telecoms providers throughout the world, without the need to route through third parties in South Africa. This in turn means they are able to offer higher speeds of connectivity at lower prices, and also better customer service. They are able to manage their own networks and make broadband connectivity more accessible to the Namibian public, helping them to bridge the digital divide and allowing the country to compete on a global stage.

“Jasco Co-location Solutions met all of our criteria, and has delivered the first phase of a solution which will revolutionise telecommunications in Namibia,” says Oiva Angula, Senior Manager: Corporate Communications and Public Relations at Telecom Namibia. “Further phases, such as additional PoPs and the extension of our national infrastructure, will enable us to further extend these services and access new technologies such as Voice over IP and cloud services.”

“NewTelco is a carrier neutral co-location centre and provider, which means that at every point of presence location there are hundreds of global carriers present. Telecom Namibia can now have our pick of carriers to interconnect with, ensuring that we always receive the best pricing and service levels, which can then be passed on to our customers,” he adds.