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Telecommunications agreement NOT a PPP but “collaboration”

Telecommunications agreement NOT a PPP but “collaboration”

Telecom Namibia pointed out this week that the agreement between it and Paratus is not in fact a Public Private Partnership, according to the strict legal definition, but a special type of agreement widely used between telecommunications operators.

Telecom’s Head of Corporate Communications and Public Relations, Nomvula Kambinda confirmed in a note issued on Thursday that Telecom has entered into an agreement with Paratus. “Telecom Namibia mid-February entered into an agreement with Paratus for the landing of Google’s Equiano submarine cable in Swakopmund,” the note read

But Kambinda emphasised that the agreement does not constitute a Public Private Partnership as defined by the Public Private Partnership Act of 2017.

Instead, “the parties entered into an Indefeasible Right of Use (IRU) agreement which is a type of telecommunications lease agreement,” said Kambinda adding that this type of contract allows the customer uninterrupted and exclusive use and access to spectrum capacity.

Downplaying the significance of the agreement – a first for Namibia – Kambinda stressed that the IRU agreement rather connotes “collaboration between a public and private entity.”


 

About The Author

Daniel Steinmann

Educated at the University of Pretoria: BA (hons), BD. Postgraduate degrees in Philosophy and Divinity. Publisher and Editor of the Namibia Economist since February 1991. Daniel Steinmann has steered the Economist as editor for the past 32 years. The Economist started as a monthly free-sheet, then moved to a weekly paper edition (1996 to 2016), and on 01 December 2016 to a daily digital newspaper at www.economist.com.na. It is the first Namibian newspaper to go fully digital. He is an authority on macro-economics having established a sound record of budget analysis, strategic planning and assessing the impact of policy formulation. For eight years, he hosted a weekly talk-show on NBC Radio, explaining complex economic concepts to a lay audience in a relaxed, conversational manner. He was a founding member of the Editors' Forum of Namibia. Over the years, he has mentored hundreds of journalism students as interns and as young professional journalists. From time to time he helps economics students, both graduate and post-graduate, to prepare for examinations and moderator reviews. He is the Namibian respondent for the World Economic Survey conducted every quarter for the Ifo Center for Business Cycle Analysis and Surveys at the University of Munich in Germany. Since October 2021, he conducts a weekly talkshow on Radio Energy, again for a lay audience. On 04 September 2022, he was ordained as a Minister of the Dutch Reformed Church of Africa (NHKA). Send comments or enquiries to [email protected]

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