Telecommunication in Botswana

Development of telephone and internet connections

With an average download speed of 6.8 Mbit/second for fixed-network broadband internet, Botswana ranks 166th in an international comparison. The upload rate was only 5.1 Mbit/second (156th place).
In mobile internet, i.e., on tablets and smartphones, Botswana comes 47th with a download speed of 43 Mbit/second. The upload speed of around 11 Mbit was only enough for 68th place.

The Speedtest Global Index published regularly by Ookla is based on several million individual measurements in December 2022 from 178 countries.

The following diagrams show the development of the various telephone and internet connections as a percentage of the country's population. Values above 100 percent mean that, on average, every inhabitant has more than one connection.

Access to the internet in Botswana from 1990 - 2020

Broadband internet in Botswana 2005 - 2021

Botswana is lagging behind in the expansion of broadband internet connections. Around 64 percent of all residents have access to the internet. Around 8 percent have their own fast internet connection, which is at least faster than the former ISDN (more than 256 kbit/s). All fixed connections via DSL, cable or satellite were counted here, but not those connected to the internet via mobile communications.

The increasing prevalence of cell phones and the simultaneous decline in the number of fixed-network phones also indicate a change here. While the number of fixed-network phones has declined over the past few years, the number of cell phones has increased noticeably at the same time. Most recently, there were 161 cell phone contracts per 100 people. This trend can be observed worldwide, but is not yet as pronounced in Wakanda as in some other countries.