Last week, the Botswana Fibre Networks (BoFiNet) announced it had wrapped up the project, marking a significant milestone in the ongoing expansion of high-speed broadband infrastructure across the country. The Kanye project, which took 11 months to complete at a cost of P17.8 million, covers three fibre loops spanning a total distance of more than 80.5 kilometres. The primary brief was to deploy optical fibre within the urban village’s local network, enabling strategic areas such as government institutions, businesses, and hospitality establishments to access the latest high-capacity technology, offering broadband speeds of up to 10Gbps.
Communications, Knowledge, and Technology Minister, Thulaganyo Segokgo, highlighted the government’s ongoing support for BoFiNet in achieving its mandate by providing funding to expand the ICT network across the country. "Our objective is to facilitate BoFiNet in providing an enabling and supporting infrastructure that will make it possible for all sectors of the economy to deliver services to the public efficiently. "This fibre-to-business infrastructure enables government institutions and the business community to achieve their digitisation agenda," Segokgo said at the project handover. For his part, BoFiNet governing body deputy board chairperson, Mothusi Tladi, emphasised their commitment to facilitating citizen economic empowerment through such projects. "BoFiNet worked with a citizen-owned contractor, Teletechnics, as the main contractor to deliver this project," Tladi stated.
"This particular project employed 53 people, 52 of whom were Batswana," he added. According to officials, the development paves the way for open access services available to all, including Public Telecommunications Operators (PTOs), Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and government entities in the area. The anticipated project’s benefits include improved connectivity and efficiency, with reliable high-speed connections for government institutions, private businesses, educational facilities, dikgotla, and the health sector. Additionally, mobile network capacities will see significant enhancement, benefiting mobile phone operators. The Kanye local access network project was carried out by the Ministry of Communications, Knowledge, and Technology in partnership with BoFiNet and Teletechnics, a citizen-owned contractor.
This initiative is part of Botswana’s broader National Broadband Strategy, which aims to connect every citizen, business, and community to a high-speed broadband network that delivers quality services at affordable prices. The fibre-to-business project began in 2014 with the deployment of network infrastructure in major locations such as Gaborone, Francistown, Maun, Kasane, and Kazungula. The second phase of the project extended connectivity to villages including Serowe, Selebi-Phikwe, Palapye, Bobonong, Tsabong, Mogoditshane, Lobatse, Letlhakane, and Jwaneng. The upcoming phase, as part of the last financial year’s rollout, will include Moshupa, Thamaga, Taung, and Ramotswa.
