Telecommunication in Namibia
Compared to the European Union, Namibia is massively lagging behind in the development of telecommunications. Under the country code +264, there were a total of 2.96 m connections in 2019. Among them were 2.82 m million mobile phones, which corresponds to an average of 1.1 per person. In the EU, this figure is 1.2 mobile phones per person.In the expansion of broadband Internet connections, Namibia is back. Around 51% of all residents have access to the Internet. Approximately 3% have their own fast Internet connection, which is at least faster than the previous ISDN (more than 2048 kbit/s).
With about 78,280 webhosts, Namibia is below the world's average by population.
Back to overview: Namibia
Development of telephone and internet connections
With an average download speed of 16.48 Mbit/second for fixed-network broadband internet, Namibia ranked 139th in an international comparison. The upload rate was only 11.77 Mbit/second (126th place). The quality of the Internet, consisting of signal fluctuations (jitter) and latency, is very far ahead at 18th place.In mobile internet, i.e. on tablets and smartphones, Namibia comes 118th with a download speed of 17 Mbit/second. The upload speed of around 11 Mbit was only enough for 92nd place.
The "Speedtest Global Index" published regularly by Ookla is based on several million individual measurements in Februar 2021 from 175 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% mean that, on average, every inhabitant has more than one connection.
Access to the Internet in Namibia from 1990 - 2019
Broadband internet in Namibia 2005 - 2019
Landlines 1990 - 2019
Mobile phones 1990 - 2019
| Spreading in 2019 | Namibia Total | Namibia percent | EU Total | EU percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internet users | 1.27 m | 51.00 % | 382.31 m | 85.43 % |
| Broadband users | 63,314.00 | 2.54 % | 158.30 m | 35.37 % |
| Landlines | 139,698.00 | 5.60 % | 165.48 m | 36.98 % |
| Mobile cellulars | 2.82 m | 113.19 % | 542.60 m | 121.25 % |