Africa-Press – Botswana. Digital economy requires that necessary infrastructure be built.
Speaking at the Carerra Holdings Cybersecurity Leadership Dialogue in Gaborone recently, acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Communication and Innovation Mr Cecil Masiga said there was currently over 90 per cent of 3G and 4G population coverage, adding that grey areas were also there to be closed.
Mr Masiga said the BOFINET optical fibre system covered 16 000kms of the country, and was complimented by other fibres belonging to mobile network service providers such as MASCOM and BTC. He said those were key developments in the economy enabling development of Data Centres, with some already undergoing certification while others were nearing certification stage.
He also said a lot was needed to be done as the data centre market in Africa was projected to reach about P69.6 billion in 2026. He further said if the Botswana economy was positioned well, it could target at least 20 per cent of the Data Centre market, which could go a long way in pushing Botswana to the high income status that the country wished to attain.
The acting permanent secretary said without the comprehensive government approach for the digital economy, including sustainable investments in connectivity, infrastructure and services, inequalities would continue to widen. Mr Masiga said the fourth industrial revolution had a lot to offer and if the nation had not transcended to the fourth industrial revolution, it could have achieved more in terms of NDP 10 and 11.
He said a number of things had to change because they needed to talk of solutions that were affordable, relevant and applicable to Botswana as the current Botswana was dependent on communication infrastructure in agriculture, mining, health, finance, transport and communications.
He also said government had identified the same in the national cyber security solution strategy, in which the social, economic and security interests were vested. Therefore, he said the conversation on cyber security and how to strengthen the protection was welcome.
Mr Masiga said the cyber security strategy was approved in 2020, having taken over three years to be approved because it was not fully understood as some thought it to be a policy issue. He further said government had advanced the formulation of cyber security law with the Attorney General, which talked about establishment of governance structures, regulation of cyber security for the industry and service providers.
For his part, Cyberrey Channel director for Africa, Mr Aadil Khan said his company was on a mission to secure the digital future of the country and the region. He said Cyberrey was an enabler of cyber resilience among strategic partners of vendors and clients.
Mr Khan also said it helped organisations gain access to the innovative technologies and was committed to building localised cyber security capacity, enabling digital transformation while safeguarding national assets and data. He said cyber security was no longer optional, but was foundational to trust, continuity and national resilience.
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