Staff Reporter
TELECOM Namibia and Huawei recently signed a N$100 million agreement for Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC Core), aiming to modernise Telecom’s core network.
Huawei, a global leader in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), will deliver an FMC Core to Telecom Namibia, erasing the distinctions between fixed and mobile telecommunications networks. This move is intended to offer customers a superior experience through seamless services, utilising a blend of fixed broadband and local access wireless technologies.
“By leveraging Huawei’s expertise and cutting-edge technology, Telecom Namibia aims to provide its customers with an unparalleled telecommunications experience, marked by superior connectivity, enhanced services, and energy efficiency,” Nomvula Kambinda, Telecom Namibia’s Head of Corporate Communication and Public Relations, said.
She explained that Telecom Namibia’s decision to implement the FMC Core Network is a strategic initiative under the telecommunication company’s recently-launched five-year Integrated Strategic Business Plan (ISBP), unveiled on June 22, 2023.
“This is the second major digital transformation and network modernisation agreement the company has signed, since signing the N$327 million OSS/BSS billing system agreement with the Spanish company SATEC earlier this year in June, as part of its turnaround strategy as outlined in its 2027 Integrated Strategic Business Plan,” Kambinda explained.
She pointed out that this collaboration allows Telecom Namibia to innovate with its service offerings by blending broadband and content, which is necessary to help the company achieve its goal of providing innovative services to its customers and growing its market share.
“As part of Telecom Namibia’s commitment to replace obsolete technologies and embracing the digital era, the service to be delivered by Huawei will play a pivotal role in achieving the network modernisation objective, aimed at enabling the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” she added.
Kambinda further emphasised that the collaboration comes with many benefits for customers, including enhancing efficiency, providing seamless and uninterrupted connectivity, improving customer experience, energy efficiency, cost reduction, and introducing innovative services and products such as Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking and a cloud-based hosted Private Branch Exchange (PBX) System.
“Telecom Namibia will benefit from operational efficiency as the implementation will streamline Telecom Namibia’s operations, resulting in improved efficiency. With a unified system in place, Telecom Namibia can provide faster and more reliable services to its customers. The network’s agility and flexibility enable Telecom Namibia to respond quickly to customer demands and deliver innovative solutions,” Kambinda said.
Telecom Namibia’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Stanley Shanapinda, said that the company is confident that the successful implementation of the FMC Core network will accelerate their digital transformation efforts, enabling Telecom to provide cutting-edge telecommunications solutions that meet the evolving needs of businesses and consumers in Namibia.
“This is a huge investment in our network and highlights the company’s commitment to staying at the forefront of technological advancements and delivering exceptional services to its customers,” Shanapinda said.
Huawei Managing Director (MD), Michael Zhang, who signed the agreement on behalf of Huawei, reiterated the same sentiments, emphasising that the FMC Core will allow Telecom to effectively compete in the highly competitive telecommunications space alongside other industry players and add significant value to the country’s ICT sector.
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