Telecom Namibia, the country's leading telecommunications service provider, has announced special rates on calls to Angola for three months, starting 1 October 2009.

Postpaid fixed to fixed off-peak* call rate to Angola was reduced to only N$1.55 a minute, while the peak hour rate is now N$2.20 a minute.

Postpaid fixed to mobile off-peak call rate to Angola was also cut to only N$1.99 a minute and the peak hour rate is now N$2.99 a minute.

This special offer, which only applies to customers who wish to call from a Telecom Namibia fixed line or Switch mobile phone in Namibia to both a fixed and mobile phone number in Angola, will be valid from the 1 October to 31 December, 2009.

Similarly, prepaid call rates to Angola were adjusted downwards by 28% to 46%.

The special discount rate represents significant savings for Telecom Namibia customers. By calling during the special off-peak rates period, Telecom Namibia customers can save up to 46% during off-peak hours on calls when compared to the normal off-peak calling charges for prepaid customers.

The latest cut in fixed to fixed and fixed to mobile call rates to Angola reflects Telecom Namibia's commitment to enable customers in Namibia to reach relatives and friends in Angola and talk more for less. Also, the special offer will certainly benefit businesses making calls to Angola on a regular basis.

Telecom Namibia is committed to offering reduced rates to our customers.

*The off peak hours for weekdays 19h00-7h00. Friday 19h00-Monday 07h00, and Public Holidays.

Just mention the name "Ohaiua", a village some 200 km north of Opuuo in the Epupa Constituency of the Kunene Region of Namibia, and it conjures images of an untamed African jungle.

Ohaiua is a beautiful and remote village on the banks of the Kunene River and is home to the Ovatua tribesmen. Situated on the foot of the majestic Omazoroue Mountains, the village is surrounded by dry rivers, which burst with life during the rainy season, natural water springs and palm trees.

Harsh conditions

A typical dwelling consists of small igloo-like structures made out of twigs and grass or palm leaves and a fireplace. Food is scarce. Children sit and wait patiently for what may be the only meal of the day. No livestock, no milk or meat.

The tribe shares a common culture and belief system as the Ovahimba ethnic group, but still remains prominently hunters and gatherers of wild fruits to date. Most of them live in the mountains and come down to plough and grow crops such as beans and mahangu when the rains come.

In spite of the harsh conditions in which they live, Ovatua tribesmen hold their traditional values with the utmost swollen pride, and can be considered as one of the most iconic brand of the 21st century. However, the tribe`s semi-nomadic pastoral traditions and ritualistic blood-drinking are in conflict with the modern world.

VSAT connection

Roads in Ohaiua are virtually non-existent - a vital, first step for this tribe in gaining access to much needed modern schools, health care facilities and economic opportunities.

There is no postal system, no telephones in the village, or even cell phone coverage. The only communications medium has been the "bush telegraph", messages transmitted via word of mouth by people travelling by foot or on horse back. The mountainous terrain presents barriers to easy deployment of phone services.

However, Telecom Namibia recently installed a satellite telephone service at the village, using the Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) system, a development that`s likely to help change their lives. A VSAT system offers multi-channel, toll quality telephone, fax and data services.

Given the area`s mountainous terrain, the VSAT technology was the most viable means of communications because satellite is more economical than other means of communications like cable and fibre optic, which are difficult, expensive and time consuming to deploy in such an area.

"So far we`re cut-off from other parts of the country. We`d to walk for a very long distance to Okanguati to make a call from a public phone. Now, with telephone connections and Internet services, we`re saved from all these trouble. I feel connected," said 19-year-old Uaundjaina Mbinge.

Telecom Namibia recognises that information and communication technology is the most effective way to counter the obstacles presented by the country`s geographic barriers, providing new methods of service delivery and introducing innovations that will create opportunities for economic and social development for all Namibians.

Life`s changing

Life is slowly changing for these tribesmen who`ve been wallowing in the bog of poverty for so many years. A resettlement programme was started to make the community live a more structured life, without which it would be hard for the Government to provide basic services. Government plans to sink boreholes, construct a clinic, school and identify cultivable lands for the immediate emancipation and empowerment of the tribe.

"It`s a wonderful project, and once again shows how much government intervention can achieve when not constrained by bureaucratic red tape," said Oiva Angula, Senior Manager of Corporate Communications and Public Relations at Telecom Namibia. "By connecting these villagers will bring them opportunities and services which were previously out of their reach," Angula said.

"I always have the question about how much benefit simple access brings, but the VSAT installation seems to have the back-end and support to make it truly worthwhile given the Government programme for the community," he added.

If one goes by official pronouncements, Government seems determined to improve the living conditions of the Ovatua community. And the satellite phone couldn`t have come at a better time for Ohaiua.

This village isn`t the first and the last to be connected. Telecom Namibia is connecting isolated villages and rural areas through wireless systems such as VSAT, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Ultraphone.

"Ohaiua is a prime example of how wireless systems can bring advanced telecom services to rural villages and how Telecom Namibia is fulfilling its social responsibility," Angula concluded.

The ICT Expo was officially opened in Windhoek today, unveiling an array of leading edge information and communication technologies (ICT) solutions, products and services.

The ICT Expo is an initiative of Telecom Namibia and Windhoek Show Society and is taking place alongside the annual Windhoek Industrial and Agricultural Show that started on 25 September.

The exhibition is taking place under the theme: "˜Visualising the future - confronting the crisis`.

Telecom board chairman, Joseph Iita, says the exhibition is proof of Telecom`s involvement and leadership role in the country`s information and communication technologies and telecoms sector.

"In order to reap the benefits of information and communication technologies, one key initiative of Telecom, through collaboration with other role players, to help raise public awareness and the mobilisation of all institutions for the effective use of the latest digital technologies," says Iita. The exhibition gives Telecom the platform to highlight its latest technologies.

Iita added that the ICT Expo is in line with Vision 2030, and the aim of the event is to help Namibia build a strong, strategic, integrated, and secure ICT sector.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Raphael Dinyando, on opening the exhibition yesterday said the exhibition represents the start of a collaborative effort by the information and communication sector to commemorate the annual African Union Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) week. The World Summit of Information Society launched the first ICT week in 2005 for November 14 to 20.

Dinyando said the week "provides an opportunity to reflect on the gains Africa has made in harnessing ICT to realise a knowledge-based economy and achieving the millennium development goals".

A number of Government initiatives are underway to assist and build capacity to create an enabling environment to develop, transfer and apply ICT within social and national economic transformation.

Besides the much-debated Communications Bill "“ which the public has dubbed "˜Spy Bill` "“ other initiatives include the enhancement of the broadband connectivity through the West Coast Cable System.

Dinyando says there is ample proof that a steady introduction of technological advances across the length and breadth of the country is a very sound investment as well as a social responsibility. In addition, a lot is achieved in the provision of fixed and mobile telephone services throughout the country.

"The biggest challenge facing the sector today is to find ways and means to further bridge the gaps and disparities in service provision in towns on the one hand, and the rest of the country on the other," said Dinyando.

Although the sector is rolling out broadband and Internet services to rural areas, Dinyando called for the sector to "give high priority to the improvement of ICT services to citizens".

"It is therefore imperative that we explore the potential ways of utilising digital technologies in empowering our people and communities to better perform their tasks and roles in our increasingly technologically driven information centred and knowledge-based economy," says Dinyando.