New president of Namibia, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. (Pic: Wikipedia)

In response to the new president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s directive, state-owned companies must now report to their respective ministries.

As a result, the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology has resumed its supervision role over Telecom Namibia.

Previously, Telecom Namibia was reporting to the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia.

In line to the president's direction, executives from Telecom Namibia and its subsidiary, PowerCom, met with ICT Minister Emma Theofelus at the Telecom Namibia Head Office in Windhoek for an assessment of their operations and strategic outlook.

The first quarterly meeting, held on Wednesday, marked the commencement of the ministry's interactions with the public companies under its authority, including Telecom Namibia.

Dr. Stanley Shanapinda, CEO of Telecom Namibia, stated that the new arrangement would be consistent with national objectives and strategic business aspirations.

He stated that the discussions focused on strategic issues concerning Telecom Namibia, such as aligning expectations and exploring collaborative approaches to further Namibia's digital transformation strategy.

"Telecom Namibia welcomes the opportunity to engage with the ministry of ICT minister and reaffirm our commitment to supporting the national vision for a digitally empowered Namibia," according to him.

"We believe that close collaboration with the Ministry is essential to maximise our contribution to the nation's development, in the areas of network modernisation that Telecom is currently embarking on; rolling out national 5G services and fibre projects and to improve on quality of service."

Nandi-Ndaitwah has been in charge since late March and has retained Theofelus as the ICT minister. At the age of 29, she is recognised as Africa's youngest cabinet minister.