The Namibia telecommunications space is virtually a monopoly. One dominant player in the mobile space, MTC (Mobile Telecommunications Company of Namibia) and Telecom Namibia is the chief fixed network operator.
Market Share
MTC is the largest mobile operator in Namibia with a market share of 90% and serving 2.52 million mobile customers. Their network coverage serves 98% of the Namibian population.
Telecom Namibia holds the fort on fixed network operator market share at 89.9% serving over 619,000 fixed and mobile subscribers. They currently also have 13,000km of fiber laid out across Namibia.
MTC and Telecom Namibia also both take the second spot. MTC takes up the remaining 10.1% of the fixed network market share and Telecom Namibia the remaining 10% of the mobile network market share.
Infrastructure
3G covers 89% of the Namibian population and 4G stands at 79%. MTC is currently the only MNO offering 5G after launching it in September 2022. Telecom Namibia is looking to activate 5G around 2024.
There are 1,316 mobile network base stations in Namibia as of October 2021 with MTC owning 72% of them, Telecom Namibia owning 25% and Paratus owning 3%
Namibia’s fiber network spans 16,524km with around 13,000km laid by Telecom Namibia. As of 2021, Telecom Namibia had 208,710 fixed subscribers whilst MTC launched fixed internet solutions for businesses that ammased 6,693 subscribers as of 2022. MTC also expanded it’s fiber network by 475km.
Proportion of earnings
The largest proportion of services earnings for MTC (Mobile Telecommunications Limited) is Data. From 2018 to 2022, data portion of revenue has grown by 10%
- Data: 68%
- Voice: 22%
- SMS: 10%
MTC generated N$2.9 billion in service revenue in 2022, up from N$2.6 billion in 2021. The growth in service revenue was mainly driven by the increasing demand for data services.
The situation is a bit different for Telecom Namibia whose largest revenue earner is still voice at 52%. Total revenue generated in 2022 was N$1.4 billion which is a decline from the N$1.5 billion in 2021
- Data: 38%
- Voice: 52%
- SMS: 10%
Namibia seems to have the least complex telecoms landscape. Essentially there is one mobile network operator and one fixed network operator.
