CRAN celebrates ten years

The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN), an independent regulator, that supervises and promotes the provision of telecommunications services and networks, broadcasting, postal services and the use and allocation of radio spectrum in Namibia today marks (10) ten years since CRAN inception on 18 May 2011, thus celebrating a decade of excellent service delivery and innovation.

CRAN, successfully delivered on its mandate, mission and vision and has effectively contributed positively towards the socio-economic development of Namibians through “Pushing ICT Forward”. In 2011, CRAN opened its doors with only 5 employees and now has a workforce of 63. Since inception, CRAN promoted 20 employees to various roles, employed 8 in-terns on a permanent basis and boasts a mere 2% staff turn-over.
“Through commitment, determination, and team work, both from within the Authority and with external strategic stakeholders, CRAN has in a relatively short time been instrumental in the issuance of 58 Telecommunications Service Licenses, 14 Community Broad-casting Service Li-censes, 1 Signal Distributor and 20 Commercial Broadcasting Service Licenses, thus providing a wide array of telecommunications, broadcasting and postal services throughout Nami-bia,” said Emilia Nghikembua, Chief Executive Officer, CRAN.
“CRAN established a firm regulatory frame-work for the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) switchover process and formulated a comprehensive DTT Frequency-Channeling Plan, which other Southern African Development Community (SADC) regulators used as a benchmark. And most recently, CRAN established the regulatory framework for Digital Sound Broadcasting (DSB) paving the way for-ward for radio broad-casting to embrace a digital world,” added Nghikembua.
CRAN reached a mile-stone when it ensured that 120% mobile penetration rate in the country was reached. This was achieved because CRAN made sure to establish regulatory frameworks that created an environment that promotes fair competition as can be seen by the termination rates in Namibia that decreased from 1.06c to 0.10c for mobile and fixed operators alike between January 2009 and October 2016. And in accordance with the Communications Act (No. 8 of 2009), a streamlined complaints handling system was also implemented to further ensure fair competition and consumer protection in the telecommunications sector. In addition, CRAN has developed an extensive database allowing it to collect data from all licensees through a live portal. This information was expanded to build a database for determining the access gap in Namibia by mapping all the information. In 2017 Namibia won the ITU award for improvement in data collection.
Furthermore, CRAN facilitated the extension and digitisation of ICT infrastructure, and the introduction of the 4th generation (LTE) mobile technology in the country. And with CRAN finalising the regulatory framework on numbering plan and number portability for Namibia, once implemented, consumers will soon be able to move with their numbers from one network to another with ease.
As we celebrate a decade of excellence, CRAN commits to continued efforts in ensuring consumer protection and advocacy, as it remains an integral part of our man-date.” Thank you to everyone who has walked with us so far. We appreciate your support and will continue to work towards achieving our vision – access, quality, and affordability for all,”said Nghikembua.