The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) has put forward proposals for tax relief and additional incentives aimed at promoting the uptake of 4G‑enabled phones in Namibia.
Speaking at the deployment of a telecommunications tower by operator Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC) Namibia in the Kunene region, CRAN CEO Emilia Nghikembua said the proposed incentives would help expand broadband access nationwide.
She said that this would build on existing infrastructure that has already been widely rolled out in parts of the country.
"Adoption is very important because putting up the tower is not digital transformation, it is an enabler," she added.
Nghikembua's remarks came in response to concerns raised by MTC Namibia about the underutilization of its network towers, largely due to the high cost of 4G‑enabled devices in the Namibian market.
MTC Namibia, which is partially state-owned, said that the widespread availability of infrastructure has yet to translate into broad uptake of its services.
"MTC has about 74 towers in the Kunene region, all of which are 4G-enabled: the utilization rate of these towers is close to 50%," Nghikembua explained.
"Even when we put the infrastructure in place, the question remains how to get our communities to adopt and use it" she said.
Namibia's digital transformation efforts
The launch of the tower in the Kunene region, alongside the proposed tax incentives, comes as the country intensifies efforts to connect underserved communities.
In October 2025, the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) partnered with Angola to deploy the Angosat‑2 satellite to boost connectivity in remote areas lacking terrestrial infrastructure.
MTC Namibia launched a strategic rural network optimization initiative, in August 2025, called Buffalo Project aimed at boosting rural connectivity in northern Namibia.
Namibia's mobile ecosystem
Namibia has two main telecom companies, MTC Namibia and Telecom Namibia.
Market research company Omdia, a sister company of Connecting Africa, records that MTC Namibia was the largest telco at the end of 2025 with an estimated 1.8 million mobile subscribers.
Telecom Namibia was far behind with just 288,000 subscribers in the same period.
MTC Namibia is 60% state-owned, with some shares floated on the Namibian Stock Exchange, while Telecom Namibia is 100% owned by the government.
In September 2025, Paratus Group launched Namibia's first private mobile network with both LTE and 5G technologies, but there is no public data yet on how many mobile subscribers it has.
Omdia data shows that about 26% of MTC Namibia mobile subscribers were using 4G, while almost 68% were on 3G and the remaining 6% were still using 2G.
Meanwhile, Telecom Namibia had far more 4G subscribers, making up almost 68% of its total base, while 26% were using 3G and 6% on 2G.
It will be interesting to see if the call for proposed tax relief on 4G devices will lead to more subscribers buying 4G-enabled phones.
Source: https://www.connectingafrica.com/4g-networks/namibian-regulator-proposes-tax-relief-on-4g-devices
