Telecom Namibia announced new tariffs with effect from 1 November 2003. The good news is that most of the call charges remain unchanged and off-peak rates at a discount of 20 % are introduced for international calls, while callers to Angola will benefit from a 26.7 % lower off peak rate. A cheaper ‘’off-off’’ peak rate for Internet dial-up users starts 1 November who can now surf the Internet at 10c per minute between 22h00 to 07h00 week days and during weekends. Local call charges from fixed-to-fixed telephones, public phone calls, ISDN rates and fixed-to-mobile calls to South Africa have been increased. Off-peak rates of 20% lower than the present peak rates will be introduced for international destinations such as Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, USA and Rest of the world.

Where off-peak rates already exist, these will continue to apply. Fixed Line tariffs increase from 33c to 35c per unit, a 6% increase. Calls from prepaid cards/public phones increase from 45c to 50c per unit, an 11% increase. For Internet users peak calls are 28c per minute, i.e. 07h00-19h00 weekdays Monday to Friday. They are reduced to114 c per minute between 19h00-22h00 on weekdays and 07h00-22h00 Saturdays & Sundays. A third rate, namely 10c per minute applies between 22h00 and 07h00 week days & weekends.

The chief executive officer of the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Tarah Shaanika called on Namibian and Angolan authorities to open the Kashamane border post to Angola in the Omusati Region in order to facilitate increased trade between Namibia and Angola. Shaanika last weekend met over 250 business people in the north at Onandjaba, who expressed their dissatisfaction about the reluctance of the Namibian and the Angolan governments to open that border post. They further complained that Angolan customers were only allowed to import goods up to N$ 500 into Angola. This was a serious restraint for a potentially flourishing trade for Namibian business people, they argued. The NCCI executive visited Kashamane last weekend and urged the authorities to open it as a power line and water supply was close by.

Telecom Namibia is offering farmers the opportunity to buy old and unused
telephone poles on their farms for a mere N$20 each. The poles on sale are those on the farmer’s land that became redundant as a result of the replacement of old open wire copper routes with new wireless communication systems. The steel wires on these routes are also for sale at N$1 per kg and the pipe
arms at N$5 per arm. In the event that redundant routes on these farms are still fitted with copper wire, Telecom Namibia will first dismantle and recover the copper wire before the poles are offered for sale to the respective farmers. If a farmer is not interested to buy the old poles, the offer will be extended to the neighbouring farmers. Those farmers who are buying are responsible for the removal of the poles and arms at their own costs. Redundant trunk routes, which have been for ages a familiar nostalgic landscape scenery feature of Namibia, will also be up for sale but only through a public tendering process due to be announced soon. Poles recovered by Telecom itself from short routes will be internally auctioned to the company’s employees.

Commercial Bank of Namibia introduced the Diamond Access facility, the best tax-effective investment in Namibia today. It combines a current account, investment account and home loan. All these transactions can be routed through that account – mortgage, savings, loans/overdraft and current account – including daily banking. In a first for southern Africa, Namibian customers now have a product that rapidly became the preferred choice for smart money managers in Europe, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Diamond Access enables the deposit of salary cheques into this combined account, and to use it as a working current account, accepting stop- and debit orders as well as ordinary withdrawals and deposits. Interest is calculated daily on the outstanding balance. The savings achieved through this, if the account is wisely used, could potentially save you thousands of dollars in interest and reduce your home loan repayment period by many years," said Ms Brigit Hoffmann, senior manager communications and marketing at Commercial Bank.

By managing their Diamond Access account electronically, service fees are halved can do away with the more expensive chequebook facility. Diamond Access is extremely tax efficient. Using one’s money to save interest on the home loan, rather than earning interest on savings there is no tax to pay. This makes Diamond Access the best tax-free investment on the market. For every new Diamond Access account, Commercial Bank of Namibia will donate N$500 to the Go Green fund, which supports critical conservation projects to protect the natural heritage of Namibia for future generations.