081Every1 making waves
A total of 111 new cell towers are scheduled to go live by the end of March, when phase one MTC's 081Every1 project is expected to be completed.
MTC executive Tim Ekandjo announced this week that 41 sites had been commissioned since December, while civil works for 64 other sites had been completed.
He added that 47 sites must still be completed to meet the deadline for phase one.
According to Ekandjo the main challenges included securing land occupation certificates from the regional land boards, as well as the provision of power to the sites.
This at the same time allowed the regional electricity suppliers to bring power to some villages.
“Under this project, necessary upgrades of the transmission network were conducted and have enabled MTC to introduce 3G network in remote settlements, unlocking the technological avenue for 2G to 3G migration for our customers in rural areas,” Ekandjo said.
The objective of the project is to achieve 100% mobile network coverage by rolling out 524 new cell towers between August 2017 and 2020.
The project is wholly Namibian, with more than 17 Namibian companies responsible for the construction of the towers at a cost of N$1 billion.
JEMIMA BEUKES
MTC executive Tim Ekandjo announced this week that 41 sites had been commissioned since December, while civil works for 64 other sites had been completed.
He added that 47 sites must still be completed to meet the deadline for phase one.
According to Ekandjo the main challenges included securing land occupation certificates from the regional land boards, as well as the provision of power to the sites.
This at the same time allowed the regional electricity suppliers to bring power to some villages.
“Under this project, necessary upgrades of the transmission network were conducted and have enabled MTC to introduce 3G network in remote settlements, unlocking the technological avenue for 2G to 3G migration for our customers in rural areas,” Ekandjo said.
The objective of the project is to achieve 100% mobile network coverage by rolling out 524 new cell towers between August 2017 and 2020.
The project is wholly Namibian, with more than 17 Namibian companies responsible for the construction of the towers at a cost of N$1 billion.
JEMIMA BEUKES
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