By Ntokozo Magongo
MBABANE – Prime Minister (PM) Russell Dlamini says the Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC) was enjoying a successful rollout of its optical fibre network.
He made this revelation during the Cabinet and Eswatini Editors Forum Breakfast Meeting held at Mountain View, Mbabane on Thursday.
The PM said the successful rollout of the fibre network was drawing satisfaction from many of EPTC customers.
Fibre can be described as an internet connection that makes use of fibre-optic cables to send data at incredible speeds.
“The parastatal (EPTC) has intensified its fibre rollout program with an additional 7 000 home passes over a significantly short period. I am made to believe that by the end of this year, 38 000 homes will have access to EPTC’s optical fibre network. The government is supporting EPTC’s strategy to connect all of Eswatini to the High-speed Optical fibre network,” he said.
Some of the areas that were successfully installed with the fibre network include in Manzini Cotes Valley, Madonsa, Matsapha, Tubungu, Ezulwini, Mantenga, Spintex, Goje Township while in Mbabane its Lomkiri, Thembelihle, Eveni and Woodlands one and two among others.
A total of 1 392 connections were made between March and May 2024. The PM said further breakdown of this information will be disadvantageous to EPTC due to competitive market forces.
The PM was asked if he was satisfied that the parastatal has an effective turnaround strategy.
He said the turnaround strategy was aligned with global telco transformation strategies and it was approved by Cabinet having been satisfied that it carried the requisite fundamentals to propel the organisation towards a path of sustainability, and ultimately growth.
“Despite this anticipated growth, a likely setback that may derail this achievement is the unabated vandalism of the network and the continued aggressive copper theft. The Postal sector continues to craft a path of eCommerce and digitisation, bearing true testimony to the idea of bringing Government services closer to the people and preparing for the deployment of more digital services,” said the PM.
Dlamini said the automation of Post Office retail and courier services has been completed in alignment with the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology (ICT)’s digitalisation strategy.
