Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) is set to enter Botswana’s commercial 5G market, with plans to introduce 5G services in selected parts of Gaborone in October.
The operator plans to invest more than P240 million (approximately US$17.8 million) during the 2026/27 financial year to speed up its 5G rollout, strengthen 4G coverage and expand network capacity. This follows an investment of more than P225.5 million (about US$16.7 million) in network infrastructure upgrades during the previous financial year.
After the initial deployment in Gaborone, BTC intends to extend its 5G network to other major cities and villages as it works toward achieving wider nationwide coverage.
The rollout will place BTC in direct competition with Mascom Wireless and Orange Botswana, both of which launched commercial 5G services in Botswana in 2022.
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As part of its broader network modernisation strategy, BTC will also upgrade capacity at 599 mobile sites and migrate fixed network services from legacy circuit-switched systems to an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) platform by December.The company is further replacing older copper infrastructure with fibre and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) technologies to improve broadband connectivity and service quality.
BTC Chief Executive Officer Jürgen Peschel said the company has made significant progress in modernising its mobile network, with data services now available across all of its legacy 2G sites nationwide. The operator has also increased capacity in existing data coverage areas by up to five times.
BTC currently provides 97% population coverage for both 2G and 4G services, with the planned 5G investment representing the next stage of its network expansion and technology modernisation programme.
