The 9th Southern Africa Telecom Operators Bilateral Meeting (STOBM2009) started in Windhoek on February 23.

Namibian deputy Minister of Information and Communication Technology Rafael Dinyando officially opened the meeting.

The STOBM2009, being hosted by Telecom Namibia brings together experts in the telecommunications industry to network and exchange ideas on how find ways of speeding up the development of ICT in southern Africa.

The deputy Minister said urgent collaboration is needed to redress the growing current imbalances and general challenge of low ICT penetration in the region. He said the challenge is that telecommunications is dynamic and not every country in the region is able to keep abreast with the new technologies.

"A platform like yours where ideas and experiences can be shared thus becomes a veritable ground for passing on necessary skill and knowledge that will help others keep pace with emerging trends in telecommunications development. In this era, information has become the most critical resource for social and economic development for every nation," Dinyando said.

"The region is facing low teledensity, low electricity supply, poor road network and little clean water. The public sector simply does not have enough resources to plug this infrastructure gap. Apart from all effort put forward by SATA to interconnect the region, cross-border harmonisation remains weak, affordability remains an issue, concerns over foreign investment prevail and the local capital is inadequate," he said.

Telecom Namibia Board Chairman Joseph Iita said it is imperative for the region to jointly integrate and become more competitive by exploiting all the opportunities.

"One key issue is to make interconnectivity of our various countries a reality in order to achieve the goal of increased intra-regional trade and universal access," Iita said.

"It is not far fetched to state that a more comprehensive regional connectivity will mean increased intra-regional traffic from which all operators will benefit. When information flows easily and cheaply so does commerce."

In an effort to accelerate ICT to people of SADC, SATA Executive Secretary Jacob Munodawafa said that SADC Telecom operators must ensure that the latest technology is provided with quality of service.

"Quality of service is a very important aspect in our business especially as we migrate from TDM based technology to packet based IP technology like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Most of the operators are already using Voice over IP for terminating regional and international voice traffic and we need to make sure that the quality of service is acceptable by our customers."

The 4-day meeting which ends on Thursday is geared towards cementing strategic and operational mutual relations of Telecom operators in all areas of ICT from technical, operational, commercial to fraud management issues.

Telecom Namibia recently awarded annual bursaries to 13 students to study in science related fields at three leading institutions in southern Africa.

Certificates were presented to the students by the Minister of Education Nangolo Mbumba at a special ceremony held on 9 February 2009.

The latest handover brings the total number of students receiving bursaries from Telecom Namibia to 36 this academic year costing the company N$1,6-million.

A total of N$4.84-million will cater for the tuition, books, monthly allowances, accommodation, meals and travelling of these students over the next three years.

Minister Mbumba commended Telecom Namibia for its continued investment in education and contribution to the country's human resource development agenda.

"By investing in our people we send positive signals out there that we are serious and prepared to play a major role in our own development," Mbumba said.

The Education Minister urged more Namibian companies to emulate Telecom Namibia in order to help alleviate skills shortage facing the country.

"When more and more companies begin to invest in our youth in the way that Telecom Namibia is doing we should be able to meet the human resource development goals of Vision 2030," Mbumba said.

The Minister also urged the students to take full advantage of the awarded bursaries by making sure they do well in their studies.

"You must appreciate the fortunate situation in which you find yourselves, because winning a good bursary does not come easily. This is not a gift it is an assignment for you to study hard. You are sponsored by a Namibian telecommunications company, so you must carry this brand."

Telecom Namibia board chairman Joseph Iita said that the company is convinced that human resource development is a long-term investment which needs a continuous and systematic development programme in anticipation of changing business needs.

Added Iita: "Our commitment is derived from our belief that human resources are a strategic asset that provides the company with competition excellence needed to achieve maximum performance."

The awarded students are Eliaser Jonas, Shalumbu Namutenya, Rumenicke Eiseb, Michelle Handura, Karembera Reinhard, Nakanyala Heikki, Shipena Johanna, Elia Sangunji, Sakaria Naemi, Elizabeth Ekandjo, Katrina Shivute, Munekamba Lorna and Muufika Nande.

Seven the recipients will study Electronic Engineering, four opted for Information Technology, while two are in Accounting.

With the exception of one who will be studying in South Africa, the remaining 12 students will study at the University of Namibia and the Polytechnic of Namibia.

Telecom Namibia customers are being targeted by fraudsters posing as employees of our company, telling them that they have been "overcharged" and a rebate on their telephone account needed to be paid to them.

Such attempts to dupe Telecom Namibia customers have been reported in several towns in the Karas, Hardap and Erongo regions of the country.

In all incidences, the mysterious callers requested the unsuspecting customers for their bank account details, claiming that Telecom Namibia has had a "problem" on its billing system and have thus "overcharged" them, and then promising to refund them as soon they get the bank details.

Telecom Namibia does not do refunds on customer accounts without a physically visit from the customer himself/herself to one of our Teleshop where he/she is required to complete a credit refund form.

Fraud over telephone, SMS and emails has unfortunately become a reality in this information age. These criminals have no conscience and will go full speed in trying all sorts of tricks to rip off any member of the public.

We sincerely advise all our customers to be careful not to divulge any confidential information to unknown persons masquerading as Telecom Namibia employees. Customers who will be approached in such a way are encouraged to capture the number of the calling party and report such a case to Telecom Namibia immediately for further investigation.

Customers can make inquiries about suspicious calls to the Customer Contact Centre at 1100.