Global mobile phone industry body, the GSMA, has honoured Botswana for their programme to roll-out digital services to more citizens at the ongoing Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Spain.

Under a newly created ‘Government Leadership Awards’ category at the Mobile Excellence Awards at MWC, Botswana was honoured for their initiative in the September 2013 ministerial summit “Encouraging Digital Inclusion in Southern Africa.”

At the end of the summit, a joint communiqué by six countries was signed with the support of GSMA. The agreement serves as a framework for enhanced regional policy coordination.

The summit particularly targeted high-level industry representatives and ministers of communications from Southern Africa to address key policy imperatives for fostering digital inclusion in the region.

“The agreement serves as a framework for enhanced regional policy coordination,” the GSMA said.

Tom Phillips, chief regulatory officer for the GSMA, said, “We encourage administrations from around the globe to be inspired by their achievements and adopt similar best practice measures in order to encourage greater mobile industry investment, support innovation and increase the provision of mobile services for their citizens.”

According to telecom research firm BuddeComm, Botswana had a mobile penetration rate of 184% by the end of 2013. The internet penetration levels in the country though lags behind at 8%, but has received a boost with improved connections from international fibre optic cables.

Botswana has a population of just over two million, according to the World Bank.