Namibia’s Mobile Telecommunications Company, MTC says 1500 customers are using its 4G network, three months after the next generation broadband offering was launched.

Windhoek became one of the first cities in Africa, after Angola’s Luanda, to have a commercial 4G network in May this year, thanks to MTC’s offering.

The telecommunications firm launched the 4G network after the completion of the West Africa Cable System (WACS), which has been funded by Botswana Telecom, South Africa’s Telkom , Namibia’s government-owned Telecom Namibia and MTC.

“We are surprised by the huge number of up take in such a short space of time and our customers have given us very positive feedback on the incredible speeds they now enjoy,” said MTC corporate affairs manager Tim Ekandjo.

"4G is now processing 23% of the total data usage in Namibia. It also shows the capacity we have on 4G and of course its huge acceptance as a preferred network by customers who have experienced it,” said Ekandjo.

Ekandjo added that those using the 4G services, which cost the company N$400 million to setup, are taking advantage of the increased data capacity.

“This usage of the above 1,000 customers, who are using more than 1.6 Gigabytes per day, generating the above 1.6 Terabytes was reached in the first two months, and it took our 3G Network almost 4 years to achieve the same usage.”