az. On Tuesday, 15 August 2006, the second National Cellular GSM License was handed over to Power Com (PTY) LTD. Now Namibia has a second operator of mobile phones. Handing over the Official Gazette was the last formal step on the long way to liquidate the absolute monopoly Mobile Telecommunications (MTC) has had in this sector. If all plans materialise, MTC will share the telecommunication sector with PowerCom as competitor.

The new competitor on the Namibian telecommunication market has big plans. In the next 3 years, they want to manage everything MTC reached in 10 years.

To achieve this, they are planning to add 75 to 100 new jobs during the first year. After three years PowerCom plans to employ 400 staff members and 200 employees which will be responsible for costumer service.

With a stake of 39 % the Norway telecommunication company, Telecom Management Partners (TMP), is the main shareholder of PowerCom. The other stocks are mainly hold by NamPower, Nam-mic and Old Mutual.

As Mac Allman, representative of TMP intimated on the handing-over ceremony, PowerCom knows "that an operator gets only one chance to launch their system and therefore it must be a system of the highest quality, with the widest coverage possible, and of course the pricing must be very competitive". PowerCom plans to introduce their SIM Cards until Christmas to utilize the Christmas trading.

The Introduction of Competition in the telecommunication market of Namibia will hopefully lead to an amelioration in variety and price of the mobile phone market and thereby it will be a great benefit for the Namibians.

But PowerCom also has to come up to some expectations. According to Mr. David Imbili, Chairperson of the Namibian Communications Commis-sion, PowerCom has to erect 104 Base Transmitter (BTS).

Currently, vast expenses for the license fees characterize the balances of PowerCom. As Mr. David Imbili on the occasion of the handing over of the license notified, PowerCom has to pay more than N$ 65 million for license fees in three steps – N$ 2.500.000 "within 30 days of the date of issue of the license", another N$ 2.500.000 "on the Commencement Date or the first anniversary date of the issue of the license, whichever comes first" and N$ 60.293.112 on "the first anniversary date of the issue of the license". Annual licence fees of N$ 1.5 million and 1,5 % of the company’s turnover have to be paid from the third year onwards. Also fees for using the radio frequency spectrum have to be added.