07 March 2022

Mobile network operator Mascom has launched four 5G sites in Botswana’s capital Gaborone as part of plans to roll out 111 sites across the country before year-end.

The nation’s minister of transport and communications Thulagano Segokgo said 5G is part of accelerators, including artificial Intelligence, cloud computing, big data and IoT, used to catalyse the digital economy for the country.

“Digital transformation is broadening and mixing business boundaries in all sectors, which will increase both diversity and uncertainty. With 5G’s network design concepts and integrative capabilities, it’s possible to combat these uncertainties,” Segokgo added.

Botswana’s healthcare sector is one of several that stand to benefit from 5G, according to the minister. That is because advanced wireless communications and information processing technology can streamline medical diagnosis and better allocate and share medical resources and data.

Mascom chief executive officer Dzene Makhwade-Seboni said that donnectivity drives socioeconomic digital transformation and with its unprecedented connectivity capabilities, “5G will take us and our society to a whole new level”. He continued: “It is bound to revolutionise industries and enhance customer experience and advance us as a nation towards the achievement of our fourth industrial revolution ambitions.”