Namibia beats SA in WiMax race

By Vanessa Haarhoff, ITWeb African correspondent

Johannesburg, 12 Feb 2007

Internet service provider Namibia MWeb has begun broadband wireless services through the use of WiMax technology.

Harry Aucamp, GM of MWeb Africa, says there have been other broadband wireless access (BWA) roll-outs in Africa. Teledata Mozambique was the first to make commercial WiMax available on the continent.

"The reason this is so exciting for us is because we are ahead of our supposedly technological advanced neighbour SA, and we're also one of the first in Africa," says Marc Gregan, newly appointed GM of Namibia MWeb.

The commercial deployment of WiMax relies on the granting of an operating licence as well as frequency allocation. In SA's case, the Independent Communications Association of SA (ICASA) has been battling to finalise the documentation to deploy commercial WiMax licences.

Waiting in SA

Richard Heath, MWeb's regulatory director, says MWeb SA is waiting patiently for ICASA to finalise the documents so the company can start deploying WiMax services. "SA has the technology and infrastructure to accommodate WiMax, but the regulation process is holding it back."

ICASA previously stated the regulation process would be finalised by April.

Namibia MWeb was issued with a BWA WiMax licence after a year of lobbying with the Namibian Communication Commission, says Gregan.

This will be the first time Namibians can access the Internet via a wireless technology that allows for broadband speeds. The licence application fee was N$5 000 (R5 000), with a 2% levy on turnover.

The benefits of providing these kinds of services are immense, says Gregan. The licence allows wireless Internet access to be used for data for the time being. "We hope that voice can be added later.

"We believe SMEs and corporates will benefit as profiles can be set up that range from 32K upwards. The company already has customers taking 1MB streams. The customer-premises equipment can handle up to 2MB of traffic," Gregan adds.

The broadband products for home use start at N$492 (R492) per month, with backup support.