Botswana Fibre Networks (BoFiNet) has ended its three-year strategy on a positive note posting P37-million profit after tax for the year 2019/20.

Ratsela Mooketsi, BoFiNet Board Chairman said the strategy crafted in 2017 delivered several positives for the parastatal, ICT sector and the economy.

“We were very optimistic and so desirous of success in delivering on our mandate and breaking new grounds,” said Mooketsi, adding that BoFiNet has been without government’s subventions for operational costs, over the past three years.

Despite financial sustainability, BoFiNet says the country’s connectivity challenges and expectations on the company still remain high.

Under the strategy BoFiNet affirmed and finalised plans for the development of a datacentre, developed a commercial strategy and has completed a regional market feasibility study and commenced deployment of Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) in Gaborone.

Buoyed by the company’s trajectory, CEO Mabua Lesego Mabua said the company has embarked on a new five-year blueprint UNLEASH 2025 Strategy. “We are now ready to respond to the intensified calls from the government and stakeholders at large for the telecommunications industry as a whole to gear up and advance the country towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).”

“As we were about to conclude the development of our new strategy, UNLEASH 2025, new developments around the globe associated with the coronavirus, were taking place at an unprecedented pace. With these developments, we have had to be awake to the need to embark on adaptation of our products and services, not only for us as a business but as the country’s key enabler of other stakeholders and players in the telecommunications sector.”

Currently BoFiNet has connected Botswana to the rest of the world through the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) and West Africa Cable System (WACS) links with capacity entitlements of 206Gbps and 191Gbps respectively.

Meanwhile, since separating from the then Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC), BoFiNet has grown from an initial asset base of P1-billion in 2015 to the current asset base of P 1, 9 billion.