NSA and CRAN to exchange data

The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) and the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) will now share and exchange data. This comes after the two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) earlier this week. The two institutions agreed upon mutual areas of cooperation including the exchange and sharing of data that will advance telecommunications services and networks, broadcasting, postal services and the use and allocation of radio spectrum within the ICT industry. According to acting statistician general Liina Kafidi, the MoU enables the NSA to avail their Data Processing Centre to CRAN and related equipment.

Under this MoU, both parties commit to share necessary resources, publish information and bind themselves to the confidentiality they both ascribe to. “The statistics that will be collected through this collaborative effort will also be shared with agencies such as the International Telecommunications Union the ITU which uses this information to rank countries under the ICT Development Index. ICT statistics include data on broadband, internet use, mobile-cellular and mobile-broadband networks amongst others. Namibia currently ranks 105 out of 148 ITU members states,” said CRAN Acting chief executive officer, Hilma Hitula. “As an example, some of the statistics agency’s questionnaires will now incorporate questions on ICT data, allowing us to evaluate the economic status of the market and forecast the growth of the ICT industry. CRAN will also be conducting an ICT GAP analysis, which will highlight the geographic areas in Namibia that are under served by ICT’s and to address the needs through the Universal Access Service Fund which will be established shortly,” added Hitula.
The communications authority currently contributes to the data collection of the NSA through the provision of the statistics linked to the ICT industry, which statistics the NSA utilises for the National Accounts and the GDP calculations. Through the implementation of this MOU CRAN will address certain challenges that it is experiencing in collecting ICT data from households across Namibia. “The MoU will further help to setup up areas of responsibility in which it will create a frame of confidentiality to information, adding that a joint committee will be established to ensure and monitor that the agreements objectives are been met and followed,”concluded Kafidi.