History
BTC was established in 1980 to provide, develop, operate and manage Botswana's national and international telecommunications services. BTC is a parastatal in which the Botswana government holds 100% equity.. BTC was the only telecommunications provider in Botswana until 1996 when an amendment of the BTC Act removed the monopoly of BTC and allowed indirect competition from two cellular companies, Mascom Wireless and Vista Communications (now Orange).
BTC has a telecommunications infrastructure that is one of the most modern in Africa. Its network, composed of an all-digital microwave and fibre optic system with digital exchanges at the main centres, provides a high quality service. The current network comprises 7 300 kilometers of microwave radio and fibre optic links between 12 main processors, each serving a specific area of the country. The switching units have a capacity of about 117 000 lines. Current services provided include national and international telephony, managed and data networks, very small aperture terminal (VSAT), private wires, leased circuits, toll free services, Internet, paging, public telephones, voice messaging, telex, packet switching, telegraph and customer premises. International access is provided from Botswana to almost every country in the world.
BTC has also supplied the backbone network to facilitate cellular communication throughout the country and works closely with the two mobile operators - Mascom Wireless and Orange.
A dedicated group at BTC head office is responsible for the core network and technology strategy, while the local access network is developed Services, an International Business Unit, a Public Telephone Unit and a Voice Messaging Unit look after specific product services. Separate supporting units, information technology and properties are already in place.
BTC also provides virtual telephony services, paging and data communication for corporate networks.
Read more about this topic: Botswana Telecommunications Corporation
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