Namibia Communications - 2024

Telephones - fixed lines

total subscriptions: 85,814 (2022 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 4 (2021 est.)

Telephones - mobile cellular

total subscriptions: 2,915,307 (2021 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 115 (2021 est.)

Telecommunication systems

general assessment: the government’s Broadband Policy aims to provide 95% population coverage by 2024; mobile network coverage has increased sharply in recent years; by 2023, 3G infrastructure provided 89% population coverage while LTE infrastructure provided 79% coverage; despite the relatively advanced nature of the market, progress towards 5G has been slow, partly due to unsubstantiated public concerns over health implications of the technology which caused the government to order an environmental assessment of 5G in mid-2020; the government has requested the regulator to speed up its 5G development strategy; Namibia’s internet and broadband sector is reasonably competitive, its development was for many years held back by high prices for international bandwidth caused by the lack of a direct connection to international submarine cables; this market situation improved after operators invested in diversifying terrestrial access routes to adjacent countries; in June 2022 Namibia was connected to a 1,050km branch line of cable running between Portugal and South Africa (2022)

domestic: fixed-line subscribership is 4 per 100 and mobile-cellular roughly 113 per 100 persons (2022) (2021)

international: country code - 264; landing points for the ACE and WACS fiber-optic submarine cable linking southern and western African countries to Europe; satellite earth stations - 4 Intelsat (2019)

Broadcast media

1 private and 1 state-run TV station; satellite and cable TV service available; state-run radio service broadcasts in multiple languages; about a dozen private radio stations; transmissions of multiple international broadcasters available

Internet country code

.na

Internet users

total: 1.325 million (2021 est.)

percent of population: 53% (2021 est.)

Broadband - fixed subscriptions

total: 71,063 (2020 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 3 (2020 est.)