Namibia's Fiber to the Home (FTTH) service provider Paratus plans to carry out a network upgrade in November 2018.

Paratus' chief customer service manager Andrew Hall said the upgrade was held back by manufacturing delays and deliverables, and to resolve network's inconsistencies, but the company is now ready to proceed.

Hall said the goal was to ensure platform efficiency and avoid service disruption. "Once all upgrades are complete, Paratus will be able to offer customers better LTE connectivity."

He added it was vital the company remained at the forefront of technological advances, in order to reinforce service to customers as well as strengthen the finances of the company.

"We have been planning the upgrades for quite some time, during which various lab tests were carried out. Meticulous planning is crucial when implementing in a live environment, as to not disrupt any service delivery to our clients."

In November 2016, Paratus rolled out its FTTH service to Namibia. In October 2017, the company announced it had secured operational licenses in 22 African countries including Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia and South Africa.

In February 2018, ITWeb Africa reported Nimbus Infrastructure Limited acquired a 26.5% stake in Paratus' Namibian operation for an amount of N$95 million.

According to Paratus Telecom Group CEO Barney Harmse, the company's end-to-end solution is completely independent of any third-party infrastructure and that is what differentiates it in the competitive local network connectivity and telecommunications space.

Funding for the upgrade will be from the R150 million the company set aside from infrastructure development between 2016 and 2019, of which R100 million will be invested into fibre.