Telecommunications in Namibia

Telephones - main lines in use: (see CIA World Factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/wa.html) 140,000 (2008), 127,900 (2004), 110,200 (2000), 100,848 (1997)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 1.052 million (2008), 495,000 (2005), 82,000 (2000 est.), 20,000 (1998), 450,000 (2006)

Telephone system:
general assessment good system; about 6 landline-telephones for each 100 persons
domestic: good urban services; fair rural service; microwave radio relay links major towns; connections to other populated places are by open wire; 100% digital
international: fiber-optic cable to South Africa, microwave radio relay link to Botswana, direct links to other neighbouring countries; connected to Africa ONE and South African Far East (SAFE) submarine cables through South Africa; satellite earth stations - 4 Intelsat (2002)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 39, shortwave 4 (2001), AM 2, FM 34, shortwave 5 (1998)

Radios: 232,000 (1997)

Since Independence in 1990, Namibia has seen a dramatic growth in radio stations, with both commercial (for instance Radio 99, Radio Wave, Radio Energy, Omulunga Radio, West Coast FM, etc.) and community (UNAM Radio, Katutura Community Radio, etc.) receiving licences. Most of these stations broadcast various types of music format, and political discussions, news and phone-in programmes remain mostly the domain of the national broadcaster (NBC) which broadcasts nine radio services nationally (in various Namibian languages, including German - the only full-time German service outside of Europe), plus the new !Ha service, broadcasting to the San community in Tsumkwe.

Television broadcast stations: 8 (plus about 20 low-power repeaters) (1997) The television network with the widest transmission range is NBC TV Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC, not to be confused with the American NBC network). The NBC is the successor to the South Africa–run South West African Broadcasting Corporation (SWABC), which was modelled on the original SABC. Like the radio services of the NBC, the television service tries to cater to all the linguistic audiences in Namibia, although the dominant language is English (Namibia's official language)

The commercial 'free to air' station is One Africa Television, the successor to the now defunct TV Africa. It has also expanded its transmitter network and is now available in most major towns and cities in Namibia. In 2007 it also commenced with broadcasting a local television news bulletin each evening.

TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network) is a religion television station, with some material originating locally, although also carrying relays from the United States. It is based in Windhoek and holds a community television licence.

Televisions: 60,000 (1997)

Internet

In February 2007, ISP Namibia Mweb began offering broadband wireless services through WiMax, making Namibia the second African country (after Mozambique) to do so.[1]

Telecom Namibia, which has offered ADSL access since late 2006 [2], has a de facto monopoly on ADSL access. Their monopoly was unsuccessfully challenged in the courts by MWeb Namibia [3] in May 2007 and again in August 2011 [4]

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 10 (2006), 6 (2000), 4 (1999)

Internet users: 75,000 (2005), 45,000 (2002)

Country code (Top level domain): .NA

See Also

List of terrestrial fibre optic cable projects in Africa