CC image courtesy of markwinnipeg on Flickr
The numbers of mobile phone users and internet subscribers in Botswana have seen significant growth with a 6.3 per cent rise in mobile and 132.2 per cent increase in internet subscriptions during 2011-2012.
According to the Botswana Information and Communication Technology Statistics, August 2013 report, the rise in mobile cellular subscriptions was a result from the rise in pre-paid subscriptions which constituted 97.9 percent of total mobile cellular subscriptions in 2012.
Cellular mobile subscriptions rose from 2,900,263 in 2011 to 3,081,726 in 2012.
Internet subscriptions rose from 254,649 subscriptions in 2011 to 591,252 in 2012.
According to the report the increase resulted from the growth of 68.4 per cent in the number of mobile internet subscriptions from 339,926 subscriptions in 2011 to 572,414 in 2012 and 3.7 per cent in fixed internet subscriptions from 18,166 in 2011 to 18,838 in 2012.
A.N. Majelantle, statistician general, said: “Telecommunications information relates to parastatals (quasi corporations) and privately owned telecommunication companies by fixed telephones, mobile phones and internet services on a yearly basis.”
However Botswana experienced decrease in international mail where it recorded a drop of 31.8 per cent between 2008 and 2012, but domestic mail increased by 19.8 percent.
Earlier this Month Communication commission of Kenya (CCK) released Kenya’s report where the number of mobile subscribers dropped from 30.7 million to 29.8 million, but the internet and data subscriptions grew to reach 9.6 million with broadband subscriptions growing by 17.5 per cent to reach 1.17 million between January and March 2013.
