The Finance Minister disclosed in his 2022/23 Budget Speech that government had amalgamated its Computer Services department with the Royal Science and Technology Park, which will promote the availability of all ICT resources centrally, minimise duplication, eliminate working in silos, and ensure that e-Government initiatives are fast-tracked. He also revealed that a price-benchmarking study – undertaken through the ESCCOM – established that wholesale prices of internet and leased lines in Eswatini are significantly higher than comparative competitive markets in the Southern African Development Community. A directive was consequently issued to Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation to reduce wholesale prices for leased lines and internet.
High-speed Communication
The cost of facilitating fixed-broadband coverage in the country had been estimated at E20-million for each of the initiative’s five component financial years. This project is according to the Strategic Plan aimed at ensuring top quality yet affordable broadband infrastructure to thus-far underserved areas. Sub-projects are deemed to include extending the fibre network, extending the overall network coverage to encompass all government facilities, and establishing Wi-Fi hotspots in much-frequented locales.
The Ministry’s objective is to establish progressive policies and usher in a thriving ICT industry that can catapult the country’s economic growth and job creation initiatives to greater heights.
With affordable and reliable broadband services close at hand, government can more readily advance its policies of decentralisation, education and health for all, while small enterprises in all communities will enjoy access to markets and suppliers countrywide and further afield.
ESSCOM
The key to quicker and less costly communications systems is integrated development, and with infrastructure-sharing regulations for the ICT industry already in place, ESCCOM is encouraging operators to make good use of the opportunities, as they reduce infrastructure costs and benefit consumers in the long run. ESCCOM is responsible for regulating Eswatini’s communications sector consisting of telecommunication services and networks, broadcasting services, postal services and the use and allocation of radio spectrum.
Transparency, honesty, excellence, innovation and social responsibility are the declared values of Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, the component structures of which include:
EswatiniTelecom provides a spectrum of quality, global telecommunication services, with direct dialling to over 200 countries and a 24-hour operator-assisted service. It offers ADSL Broadband, which is a high-speed, ‘always on’ internet-access service to send and receive data at speeds surpassing conventional dial-up connection. It also delivers high-performance at low cost, and is suitable for small to medium companies, as well as home use.
EswatiniTelecom is committed to supplying modern telecommunication services throughout the country, including less-developed areas, and contributes to the economy by providing employment, attachment for students at tertiary institutions, and by participating in and sponsoring social events. The Next Generation Network is poised to change the local communications landscape by bringing on stream certain products and services that are currently not available.
Eswatini.net is EswatiniiTelecom’s Internet Service Provider and offers customers integrated internet solutions under one roof: it puts forward a variety of internet services tailored to fit the needs of individual customers. Eswatini.net also offers Web Hosting: the customer is provided with an account wherewith to manage their site. Complementing the latter – and for email routing – is a Domain Name Hosting service.
EswatiniPost is the country’s prime mover of written communications and parcels, with services comprising ordinary and registered mail, courier and freight moving. The Post Office provides the most cost-effective delivery option and serves remote and rural areas, and has through computerisation introduced Mail-Room Management and Post Direct, as well as banking and hybrid mail services.
The country has two cellular-telecommunication service providers, namely MTN Eswatini and Eswatini Mobile, Both continue to invest millions of Emalangeni in expanding their infrastructure to offer as comprehensive and extensive an area of network coverage as possible, and regularly announce the availability of the very latest innovations in both phones/devices and the communication technology that powers them.
Eswatini Broadcasting and Information Services – is responsible for disseminating news and information which is aimed at educating, informing and entertaining Emaswati effectively and impartially for the purposes of development and social welfare.
Eswatini Television Authority broadcasts are of a high picture-quality and accessible to the entire nation via 100 percent satellite-transmission coverage. At last count, Eswatini has six authorised operators offering access to technology that enables fast, cost-effective data communications from remote sites.
Newspapers in both English and SiSwati and with online versions boast wide circulation figures.