“Today, BTC, has the widest network coverage of all telecommunications service providers”
Golekanye Molapisi
Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited (BTC), continues to involve, modernizing its infrastructure and introducing innovative product and service offerings to enhance customer experience.
The Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) listed company, under the stewardship of the Managing Director, Anthony Masunga, is the market leader of converged telecommunication solutions, providing mobile, fixed and broadband services.
The Corporation, which started operations in 1980 has over the years evolved to keep up with customer needs and demands. The Corporation, which is alive to the role of telecommunications as a socio- economic enabler, is on a quest to bring services nearer to Batswana at affordable rates.
Over the years, BTC has advanced to offer a varied portfolio of communications services in response to market demand. From being the only fixed line services provider, BTC ventured into the mobile network space and BTC mobile established only ten years ago, now covers over 90% of the population.
BTC continued to grow and expand to offer faster broadband services and integrated fixed line offerings in efforts to keep up with the fast-changing world of technology.
Today, BTC, has the widest network coverage of all telecommunications service providers. The expansion and network modernization, came about due to years of uninterrupted investment in infrastructure development running into billions of pula.
Recently, BTC proved its agility by introducing and rolling out 4G (fourth generation) connectivity to different parts of the country to bring faster reliable and affordable mobile broadband. BTC also launched new mobile corporate offers in a push for improved customer experience.
The innovative corporate offers are designed to get the user in the driver’s seat, giving them the ability to build their own voice and data packages, a first in the market.
BTC, is also introducing a new billing platform for the convenience of the customer to replace the old system where customers received individual bills across three billing platforms. The new platform, will help improve efficiency especially timely response to customer billing queries and faster response to market demands.
Further, BTC partnered with Korea Telecom on a network transformation project to improve internet service user experience.The project, which is also in response to market demand for improved faster reliable internet will cover Gaborone, Francistown, Maun and the rest of the country.
The partnership with Korea Telekom, has been hailed by industry pundits, who are of the view that with the legacy of Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) broadband copper access network fast reaching its technological end of life, the transformation and modernization of BTC infrastructure will improve mobile and broadband customer experience ushering in new products for the benefit of the end user.
Besides the infrastructure development projects, BTC engineers, undertake periodic customer visits targeting different areas, to attend to faults and carry out maintenance works. The initiatives introduced by Masunga, are part of efforts to improve processes and transform BTC for the convenience of the customer.
The corporation is arguably in a trajectory to revamp the local telecommunications industry landscape. As the home of telecommunications with widest network and reach, BTC products range from fixed, to data to mobile, thus it is the only provider in the industry, with the ability to innovate within all these platforms.
As BTC continues to innovate and provide better customer experience, the locally owned and only BSE listed telecommunications services provider, holds the unique responsibility of ensuring the best quality of service at competitive rates while delivering shareholder value. The BTC journey is about inclusion and successful economic contribution to the growth and development of Botswana.