Botswana Telecommunications Corporation

History

BTC was established in 1980 to provide, develop, operate and manage Botswana's national and international telecommunications services. BTC is a parastatal in which the Botswana government holds 100% equity.. BTC was the only telecommunications provider in Botswana until 1996 when an amendment of the BTC Act removed the monopoly of BTC and allowed indirect competition from two cellular companies, Mascom Wireless and Vista Communications (now Orange).

BTC has a telecommunications infrastructure that is one of the most modern in Africa. Its network, composed of an all-digital microwave and fibre optic system with digital exchanges at the main centres, provides a high quality service. The current network comprises 7 300 kilometers of microwave radio and fibre optic links between 12 main processors, each serving a specific area of the country. The switching units have a capacity of about 117 000 lines. Current services provided include national and international telephony, managed and data networks, very small aperture terminal (VSAT), private wires, leased circuits, toll free services, Internet, paging, public telephones, voice messaging, telex, packet switching, telegraph and customer premises. International access is provided from Botswana to almost every country in the world.

BTC has also supplied the backbone network to facilitate cellular communication throughout the country and works closely with the two mobile operators - Mascom Wireless and Orange.In 2008 BTC established a mobile arm beMOBILE. On 1 November 2012 BTC was converted to and registered as a public company, Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited (BTCL)

A dedicated group at BTCL head office is responsible for the core network and technology strategy, while the local access network is developed Services, an International Business Unit, a Public Telephone Unit and a Voice Messaging Unit look after specific product services. Separate supporting units, information technology and properties are already in place.

BTCL also provides virtual telephony services, paging and data communication for corporate networks.

Corporate governance

Current members of the board of directors of BTCL are:

BTCL Senior Corporate Officers:

Products and services

For many years, BTC has been Botswana's largest supplier of fixed-line and associated communications services, and it has been providing telephony and other products to urban and rural centres across the country. The following main products and services are currently offered by BTC:

Residential

Business

Customer Premises Equipment

Value Added Services (or VANS)

Tariffs

Financial

On June 2016 BTCL published its first annual financial statements as a public company for the financial year end 31 March 2016. The company reported a loss of P371 million which was due to an impairment write down of P522 million, and had revenue of P1.512 billion which was a marginal increase from previous year. Total assets were at P1.949 billion while cash and cash equivalents was at P390 million. The company also declared a dividend of 5 thebe per share

Subsequent to these results the share price started its decline from its high of P1.30 to P0.85 per share on 15 September 2016.

Community relations

Sports

BTC Group through its mobile network, beMOBILE actively supports sport by sponsoring the Premier Football League to the amount of P5 million over a three-year period. The biggest sponsorship in the annals of Botswana football has seen the game become very competitive to rival some of the top leagues.

In motor sport, beMOBILE sponsored local racing driver, Atang Makgekgenene, in the Annual Toyota 1000 Desert race, the only Motswana in the sandmaster category.

Arts

The BTC Group donated P20 000 to Thapong Visual Arts Centre. In collaboration with the centre, the Group sponsored a competition to the tune of P20 000 inviting artists to design the cover for the 2010 Phone Book Directory. The Group also supports musicians by affording them an opportunity to share the platform and showcase their talent during promotions.

Rural Telecommunications Development

Botswana has a small population that is spread across a vast country. Where feasible BTC Group utilises its resources to provide services to remote villages that have a population of 250 or more. So far, the Group under the Nteletsa Project, has connected almost 200 villages around the country. Currently we have signed another contract for the provision of telecommunications to a further sixty two villages in the south-western part of Botswana.

These projects were a partnership between the Government of Botswana and BTC Group where the Government funds the capital cost, whilst maintaining the infrastructure on an ongoing basis. The cost of the projects is in excess of Pula 240 million.

Contribution to HIV/AIDS related activities

BTC Group is a founding member of the Botswana Parastatal Aids Forum and also has an active Aids awareness programme in the work place. The Group commemorated the World AIDS day through the concept of Wellness Expo to promote employee wellness, to know their HIV/AIDS status and to discourage stigmatisation in the workplace.

Commitments

On 2 February 2010 Powertel Communications signed a Cross-Border Interconnection Agreement with Botswana Telecommunications Corporation. BTC agreed to provide Powertel with international bandwidth capacity for two years after the two organisations completed cross border fibre optic connections at Ramokgwebana in December 2009.

BTC is currently providing 45Mbit/s to Zambia.

BTC has committed to contribute P504 million to secure reliable bandwidth connection from an undersea fibre optic through the West African Cable System (WACS). BTC and Telecom Namibia both contribute equally as second tiers while regional giants like Vodacom, MTN, Neotel and Zain will contribute US$100 million (approximately P672 million) each for the development of the undersea cable that will link London with Africa.

BTC is also committed US$210 million into the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) to further increase Botswana's bandwidth capacity.

BTC to be privatized

In June 2010, the government of Botswana government planned to privatize BTC. The Sunday Standard reported that Presidential Affairs Minister, Lesego Motsumi told parliament that the cabinet has taken a decision regarding the privatization structure of BTC and the information will be communicated with all stakeholders soon. Lesego Motsumi stated that the aim of the privatization was to minimize risks, and get maximum benefits. She added that the government had to carry out extensive consultations before going ahead with the plans.

BTCL Listing

BTCL listed on the Botswana Stock Exchange on 8 April 2016 at P1 per share and total valuation of P1.05 billion (1.05 billion shares). The listing was muchly awaited and was oversubscribed but individual citizen were given preference over company. The shares were allocated 51% to the government of Botswana, 5% to employees of BTCL and 44% to Batswana and Botswana companies. The shares were largely restricted for the benefit of Batswana and are traded among Batswana and companies benefiting for Batswana e.g. funds managers.

The share price spiked on listing and continued its to rise to high of P1.30 per share then subsequently declined upon announcements of financial year results of a P371 million loss. The share is currently trading at P0.85 per share 15 September 2016.

It was announced that Paul Taylor who had led BTCL to its transformation and subsequent listing would not have his contract renewed at end of his contract which ended in July 2016. Anthony Masunga was then appointed acting Managing Director.