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Botswana fails ICT global competitiveness

patriot by patriot
November 21, 2020
in Business
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Botswana fails ICT global competitiveness
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Despite the various initiatives being undertaken by the government and private companies to harness Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as the country is aiming to shift into a knowledge economy the statistics show that Botswana is still missing a lot on ICT connectivity.

The 2019 Global Connectivity Index report compiled by leading technological company, Huawei ranked Botswana number 70 out 79 countries with report suggesting that Botswana scores are below the global average for the majority of GCI indicators signaling poor connectivity in ICT.

Report indicates that the exceptions are smartphone and mobile broadband penetration, which hit historic heights in 2019 as Botswana scores also increased by 1 point in 4G and Internet use.

“Botswana scores reflects its underdeveloped status, despite some growth in demand for cloud migration. With internet penetration showing continuous growth, Botswana is ideally poised to benefit from the opportunities that cloud computing provides,” the GCI report has established.

 Statistics Botswana  ICT figures of Q1 2019 show that local Internet subscriptions experienced steadily increased during the quarter increasing by 10.7% from 1 804 subscriptions registered in Q4 2019.

Local ICT solutions provider company, RPC Data this week held a one day media crash course that touched on ICT market in Botswana its related challenges and how they delays growth.

The Managing Director of RPC Data Komal Rao said Botswana ICT industry is grappling with a quite number of challenges emphasizing that local ICT service providers are still fragmented.

He noted the reason why the local ICT companies cannot be competitive is that only competing foreign ICT companies have the capacity to lend all lucrative ICT tenders from the government.

“Botswana ICT is depending a lot on government to procure ICT but there has been a serious stagnation by government to buy ICT.Foreign ICT providers still outshines the local ICT service providers to win ICT tenders and they don’t in return contribute to local ICT workers, “he said.

Furthermore, RPC Data MD have attributed Botswana’s poor global competitiveness on due to improper implementation of mega ICT projects, citing the defunct multi-million eGov project.

Komal regrets that the eGov project has been anticipated to be piloted long years ago but to no success buttressing that the system could give Botswana competitive edge on global rankings.

The parliamentary wing committee, Public Accounts Committee (PAC) back in 2018 in shocking a revelation was informed that the dysfunctional eGov system gobbled government P 1 billion.

 Disclosure was made by former Permanent Secretary in Ministry of Transport, Kabelo Ebineng.

Komal also insisted that although government is the primary consumer of ICT, he observed that the local private sector is not enough to support local ICT industry compared to other regions.

This, he said it is due to the fact that Botswana has only 25 companies listed in Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE),hence leaving the market for  small ICT service providing  companies is limited.

Another Director at RPC DATA Nitin Sanghi said for Botswana to fully realise the dream reality of a knowledge based economy should leapfrog in advancing ICT infrastructure and spending.

He fears that the ICT professionals have been untapped as government is hiring a low number of the graduates calling on the private sector ICT providers to absorb university ICT graduates.

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  • VACANCIES: BR PropertiesMay 17, 2022
    INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY Finance and Administration Closing date: 18th May 2022.
  • BANANA CLUB HOSTS FIRST MAUN EDITIONMay 17, 2022
    The artist-led collective, Banana Emoji Productions in collaboration with the European Union Delegation in Botswana hosted the beloved BANANA CLUB dialogues in Maun on the 14th of May 2022.  The multi-disciplinary creative group is committed to working with artists […]
  • Orange Botswana CEO among Africa’s most inspirational women in leadershipMay 12, 2022
    – Declares House of Rose House of Rose Professional Pte. Ltd (HORP) has announced its 2022 List of Africa’s Most Inspirational Women in Leadership. The list included over 100 inspirational leaders and was curated by House of Rose Professional […]
  • Unions ‘consider’ a Workers PartyMay 12, 2022
    Masisi snubbed trade unions on Workers Day, chose Khawa BOFEPUSU warn Masisi that Khawa could cost him elections Opposition will be top beneficiary of a Workers Party -Analyst BAKANG TIRO editors@thepatriot.co.bw Aggrieved trade union federation, Botswana Federation of Public, […]
  • Munyadzwe breeds, commercialises phane wormMay 12, 2022
    “We have had clients from as far as England, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana and they really like the phane worms. People are talking about snack protein, and we are part of that revolution, food security, healthy sources of protein, going […]
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