Orange Botswana CEO Dr Patrick Benon said the company is committed to improve fixed internet connectivity this year.

“As you are aware, with the COVID-19 crisis, Botswana's need for fixed internet has tremendously increased, and our customers need more speed, more stability and unlimited internet at an affordable price,” said Benon.

He said the operator intends to roll out fixed internet based on 4G-TDD that is more efficient for heavy data usage.

“We have decided to use 4G-TDD technology because at home our customers consume heavy amounts of data, and they want unlimited internet. Also, it was important to separate the fixed internet network from the mobile network to avoid fixed internet usage compromising the quality of our mobile usage,” said Benon.

According to Benon, the 4G-TDD technology already covers 22 cities, towns and villages including Greater Gaborone, Greater Francistown and most big villages in Botswana.

“We will keep expanding this technology to other villages throughout the country,” he added.

Benon said that last year Orange Botswana introduced 4G+ technology and managed to increase the number of base stations supporting 4G or 4G+ technology by up to 60% to date.

“Before the network upgrade we carried out last year, 40% of our base stations were supporting only 2G technology, meaning that they were very limited in terms of data services. All of those base stations have been upgraded to 3G or 4G, except less than 2% of them and their upgrade is still ongoing,” said Benon.

In addition to upgrading its network last year, Orange Botswana also cut down mobile data bundles by 70%.

Meanwhile Orange Botswana has also launched Konnecta Max to offer Unlimited Prepaid Max which gives customers access to the internet with no contractual commitment.

Konnecta Max will also be available to post-paid customers and business customers who will be able to upgrade their existing Konnecta to get more speed and more capacity with no extra charge.

He said Konnecta Max will complement the wide range of products already offered for fixed internet like Orange Fibre and Konnecta Home, which are still available across the country.