8 October 2008
editorial
This space is ordinarily reserved for major events that have national or international appeal. We ordinarily do not comment on personal achievements.
But this time, we have to buckle the trend and celebrate the appointment of Thapelo Lippe as Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) Chief Executive Officer.
During the heated campaigns for the 1984 Gaborone South by-election, then Vice President, Peter Mmusi (may his soul rest in peace), said with pride that BTC is one of the success stories in the government's initiative to develop local enterprise. The state corporation achieved milestones, particularly in the 1990s when teledensity improved in leaps and bounds.
But those were the days. BTC has fallen on hard times and had to call in foreign consultants to bail it out. The corporation lost many of its customers due to the horrible customer billing system it used in the early 2000s. The coming of mobile telephony has taken off much shine from what was once the pride of the country.
BTC has lost staff and business. Many people rely on cellular phone than BTC landlines thanks to the corporation's lethargy. The departure of the former CEO, Vincent Seretse, did not help the situation.
With the appointment of, Lippe a former Chief Executive Officer of Orange to head BTC, we are hopeful that the fortunes of the corporation will be turned around. As a young Motswana, Lippe made us proud when against all expectations, he made Orange to be the money-making brand that we know today.
He should use the same acumen to revive the ailing BTC. Home Internet connections have gone down due to the prohibitive costs charged by BTC, particularly on the pre-paid service. The turn around time in attending to faults is distressingly long.
This is the morass that Lippe will inherit and we hope he has the guts and the will to lead BTC to greater heights. However, he is no stranger to BTC having worked there before.
We therefore, see the second coming of Lippe to BTC as the dawn of a new era. We trust that he will make BTC compete with the AT&Ts of this world and even beat them.
Lippe is coming at a time when BTC has started a cellular phone service - Be Mobile - and these could be exciting times for consumers. We are looking forward to competitive tariffs and services in the cellphone industry.
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