The telecommunication market in Botswana has experienced significant policy and regulatory changes over the last decade, which have not led to mobile market price reductions as expected. While the country seems to not have benefitted from the heavy fibre optic cables investments yet. Hence the objective of becoming an ICT hub has not yet been reached and, despite the country’s high subscription rate (around 95%), the digital divide in Botswana remains a concern as the majority of
people still do not have access to broadband services. Furthermore, the results from the VMI show how low the value is for consumers who use bundled services. These results have many policy implications. Firstly, it implies that even though the telecommunications policies in Botswana has evolved over time to achieve competitiveness, the policies have failed to improve the market’s ability to supply better and more affordable services to the public. Secondly, although investment in fibre optic cables has increased broadband subscriptions, high prices keep the majority of individuals out of the internet space.
