Martin Endjala
Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) has invested a total of N$504.1 million in its network and systems to enhance customer service and to enlarge its data-carrying capacity during the 2023 financial year.
The company further invested N$1.7 million in the High-Tech Transfer Plaza (HTTP) centre to stimulate innovation and build a national innovation hub.
This was revealed by MTC Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Licky Erastus, during the company’s recent financial performance announcement.
According to Erastus, these activities include the MTC Tech Innovation Bazaar, Namibia National Cyber Security Competition and Namibia National High School Programming Competition amongst others.
He said that the company invested in the network coverage to bridge the digital divide and also the inclusion of the Namibian population in the mainstream economy.
“As a corporate citizen, MTC invested 12.7 million via Environment Social Responsibility and Governance (ESG) projects that covered education health and environment projects,” he said.
Additionally, MTC paid direct taxes at the value of N$240.8 million and invested N$2.06 million in rural electrification that benefits the community. An amount of N$1.7 billion was paid during the financial year under review, and 95 Percent of suppliers are Namibians.
Moreover, the company expanded its radio network to 1014 towers at the end of the year under review, 97 rural sites have been upgraded to 4G sites, of which 70 percent of sites are active 4G capable, which accounts for 50 percent of the data traffic.
MTC also announced that it has increased its fibre network by an additional 414 kilometres for the year to reduce network congestion, of which 89 sites have been upgraded to date. It also secured an 800 Megahertz (MHz) spectrum.
Meanwhile, N$471 million was paid to salaries and benefits of employees, and an amount of N$44 million was invested in employee training programs.
The company paid dividends to the value of N$663 million an increase of 27.7 percent compared to last year of which its shareholders are 99.9 percent Namibian communities.
