Orange Botswana is the first Orange affiliate to launch 5G, with coverage of 30% of the population, including greater Gaborone and Francistown. Other cities will follow in early 2023.
It follows the launch of Botswana’s first Orange Digital Centre this morning, which will help bridge the digital divide and prepare Batswana youth for employment in a blossoming digital ecosystem.
This 5G launch will further support innovation and digital inclusion in the country, putting Botswana at the forefront of 5G in Africa. Additionally, the launch is closely aligned with the government’s ambition to leverage Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) innovation towards transforming Botswana into a knowledge-based economy, leaving no one behind.
5G, with its ultra-high speed and low latency, will support new disruptive services such as e-health, connected vehicles, connected cities, real-time gaming, smart homes and learning through VR and augmented reality. It offers a new world of possibilities to companies, innovators and society at large.
Orange Botswana has partnered with MRI Botswana to create a “Connected Ambulance” project that will allow doctors to guide paramedics through life-saving procedures on their way to hospitals. This telemedicine intervention will change lives and would not have been possible without 5G. Orange Botswana is looking forward to collaborating with the government and enterprises to implement 5G-based use cases.
Orange Botswana is also introducing new 5G fixed broadband services and mobile data bundles. The offers are available for residential customers, as well as small and medium enterprises, and include value-added services. These fixed offers are available from 15Mbps for prepaid and from 20Mbps for postpaid, with a monthly rental from BWP 699 (€53 per month). The subscription for prepaid offers is accessible through the Orange Yame app, USSD and Card to Wallet.
After this very first commercial launch of its 5G services in Botswana, Orange Middle East and Africa intends to maintain its efforts in getting the latest and most advanced technologies in all its MEA countries adding value to local economies and continuously bridging the digital gap within African populations.
In other countries, regulatory boards still have not officially initiated the 5G license attribution process, although many of them, such as in Cote d’Ivoire, have shown a clear will to make the 5G spectrum available in 2023. Meanwhile, Orange is collaborating with several regulatory bodies to help build a 5G deployment roadmap while testing the technology and developing use cases that fit with the local populations’ needs.
Jérôme Hénique, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa, says, “The launch of 5G technology in Botswana will allow us to scale up this technology and gain experience for other Orange countries across Africa. The benefits and potential impact of this are promising. It will help promote Africa’s digital inclusion, resulting in socio-economic growth and job creation. It is also ensuring Africa’s skills development on digital management tools and is in line with the ambitions of the African Union ‘Digital Transformation for Africa (2022–2030).’ It begins here and now, in Botswana.”
Néné Maïga, CEO of Orange Botswana, adds, “At Orange Botswana, we are excited to be bringing in a new technology that will allow economic players to discover new possibilities enabled by 5G and the way it could positively transform their daily activities. 5G connectivity is an incredible opportunity for businesses and the government, who are eager to take their operations to the next level. It is going to change how customers experience connectivity.”