NAMIBIA will offer the lowest Mobile Termination Rates in the southern African region next year June.

This follows an agreement by the key players in the telecommunications industry to lower the MTRs to 30cents by June 2010. Next year the southern African region will host two important events, World Cup 2010 by South Africa and the Africa Cup of Nations by Angola.
Addressing a media gathering this week MTC General Manager Corporate Communications, Albetus Auchamub, said the country will offer the lowest MTRs  before the end of the second quarter of 2010 following an agreement to reduce the current N$0,60 to N$0,30.
Local interconnection rates were the highest in the region despite a cut effected by the Namibian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in August.
Some of the countries with the lowest MTRS in the region include Mozambique at N$0,81, Tanzania at N$0,59, Namibia at N$0,60 and South Africa is the highest with N$1,25.
The move to reduce MTRs is expected to bring relief to hundreds of thousands of cellular phone users in the country who have been subjected to high MTRs.
This comes at the back of widespread condemnation on some of the country’s mobile phone networks accused of charging high rates as a way of monopolising the market.
According to a release by MTC, the average MTRs for European countries stands at around US$0.70 compared to the region.
Auchamub said the rates currently offered by the country’s biggest mobile networks are 6% lower than some of the region’s rates and MTC is committed to reducing the interconnection rates further.
He said MTC offers the lowest interconnection rates ranging between N$1 and N$1.08 compared to their counterparts  who are asking N$1,78.
Auchamub said his company, which normally charges its subscribers per minute, can not be compared to their competitors who charge per second calls.
However, the company could not shed more light on why they ask for full minute charges for dropped calls saying the company gives their subscribers an option of using the per minute charge or per second charge.
Corroborating Auchamub’s sentiments, Miguel Geraldes, the General Manager of MTC said his company has  not been copying their competitors marketing strategies but they have just been following the latest market trends to improve service delivery.
Geraldes claims their subscriber base has reached 1.3 million and the company has now stretched its coverage to 44% of the country’s geographical location.
He said the mobile giant cannot take the blame for monopolising the telecommunications landscape because his company has co-operated with regulatory authorities by reducing their interconnection rates despite a profit cut that comes with such a move.
Geraldes also added that MTC is dedicated to reinvesting in the telecommunications industry and if the trend continues, the country would be one of the most technologically advanced in the world by 2030.
MTC claims their subscribers save 47% more in terms of calls as compared to their competitors.
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