Players in the Botswana communications sector last week gathered to discuss the contents of the Consultation document on the Development of Guidelines on Sharing Communications Infrastructure in Botswana.
The study is being compiled by a group of consultants hired by Botswana Telecommunications Authority (BTA) on the future of sharing. The participants from telecommunications to broadcasting sub sectors of the industry were told of the progress made on sharing since the liberalisation in the late 1990s.
Botswana Telecommunications Authority (BTA), which was the convenor of the workshop, has tasked ICT Consultants (Pty) Ltd to carry out a study to inform the development of appropriate policy and regulatory framework that will guide the process.
Infrastructure sharing has been described as the joint use of facilities like towers, equipment shelters, cable ducts, communications equipment and other similar facilities.
Already, BTC is at the forefront of sharing because of the state’s investment on its infrastructure over the years since the country attained independence.
Officially opening the workshop, Thari Pheko, the Chief Executive Officer of BTA, said sharing could be vital in bringing communication to other parts of the country.
“In our country with its small population and vast land mass, communication infrastructure sharing may be the most cost-effective way of telecommunications development,” he said.
From the discussions, the industry welcomes sharing, but other operators like Value Added Network Operators (VANS) and broadcasters still have issues with sharing.
For example, broadcasters are concerned that infrastructure sharing is more advanced in regards to telecommunications as there are policies that makes it quasi mandatory.
A number of interventions namely Telecommunications Policy 1995, Telecommunications Act, ICT Policy commonly known as Maitlamo is advancing the course of sharing in the telecommunications sector.
But the same cannot be said of sharing in broadcasting as there are stalled development of policies like Broadcasting Act 1998 and Draft Broadcasting Policy 2004; which, if finalized, will encourage sharing.
VANS, on the other hand, feel that the negatives will be high, especially that large infrastructure operator like Botswana Telecommunication Corporation (BTC) is on the verge of privatisation.
Neo Ngwako, chairman of the ICT sector of BOCCIM, said access to broadband is a prerequisite to achieving economic development.
“Farmers can use their phones in the farms, but (they) cannot access broadband”, he stated. His concern is that putting up internet connection in the farms out there does not come cheap, because it is usually concentrated in the cities.
The VANS said they are scared if the Public Telecommunications Operators (PTO) owns their own infrastructure therefore they are advocating the infrastructure be owned by the state and ‘for public use’.
One of the consultants Tsietsi Motsoela said infrastructure sharing brings rewards not only to the providers, but also consumers and the environment.
For example, if television service providers share infrastructure, their signal can be received from the same direction rather than putting two satellite dishes in one wall, but facing different directions.
But generally, sharing is said to be beneficial to a wide range of the society including consumers.