TNM scoops best internet connectivity award at 2023 ICT Expo

TNM Chief Executive Officer, Michel Hebert accepting the award

* We are humbled that our decision to invest in internet innovation continues to be noticed

* As an important contributor to the country’s ICT sector and the Malawi economy

* The award will inspire TNM to continue pioneering innovative and integrated mobile network and ICT services that respond to the needs of customers

* We strive to bring best internet connectivity that the country can leverage to bring forth exponential transformations within the business economy

By Duncan Mlanjira

Information Technology Association of Malawi (ICTAM) has named TNM Plc as the ‘Best Internet Connectivity’ company in Malawi at the association’s 2023 ICT Expo held in Lilongwe — held under the theme ‘Building Business Resilience Through Digital Technology’.

TNM was awarded for its excellent internet service delivery which has revolutionized access to internet and improved broadband speeds in Malawi — competing with Airtel and Inq Digital.  

Accepting the award, TNM Chief Executive Officer, Michel Hebert said the award speaks volumes of value TNM internet offers to Malawians, saying: “We are humbled that our decision to invest in internet innovation continues to be noticed as an important contributor to the country’s ICT sector and the Malawi economy.”

Hebert further said the award will inspire TNM to continue pioneering innovative and integrated mobile network and ICT services that respond to the needs of customers.

“At TNM, we strive to bring best internet connectivity that the country can leverage to bring forth exponential transformations within the business economy. This is just the beginning, Malawians should look out for more from the best 4G network in the country,” he said.

Following latest approval by the Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (MACRA), TNM has launched pilot phase of its 5G network to continue providing valuable internet connectivity to the country.  

“As a telco company, we are excited to be the first in Malawi to bring 5G network services,” added the CEO. “The network is designed not only to deliver faster, better mobile broadband services but can also expand into new service areas such as mission-critical communications.”

Making the announcement at the event, the judges ranked TNM highly as an important driver of Malawi’s sustained development through its cutting-edge innovative offerings in the internet ecosystem.

Last week, TNM Plc became the first mobile network operator in Malawi to launch the ground-breaking and industry-revolutionising 5th Generation (5G) network, which delivers the fastest and highest quality mobile internet speeds.

The pilot 5G network is being unveiled alongside MAHAPE, a communication platform conveying the emotions of happiness that the 5G and other existing TNM products and services create.

At the launch, Hebert said this was in keeping with the telco’s tradition as a pioneer in mobile telecoms technology, having also being the first to launch 2G, 3G & 4G network services.

He indicated that customers in the selected areas of the country can now start receiving the signal to taste 5G, which is the most advanced technology for driving highest quality internet speeds across mobile phones, computers, and machines.

Hebert unveiled that TNM has in the past two years invested up to K5.2 billion (US$5.1 million) to upgrade and modernize its packet core network platform to support current data traffic growth, improve the 4G experience and now as a platform to launch 5G, in partnership with Huawei, the world’s technology leader.

He said the introduction of 5G services will deliver excellent end-user experiences as it offers internet speeds of up to 600Mbps per site with 50MHz of spectrum and up to 1.2Gbps per site with 100MHz of spectrum, which is a quantum leap over 4G throughputs.

“5G offers broader capacity and far less latency for multi-media content services such as online gaming, ultra-HD, virtual reality, inter of things (IoT), data mining and synchronization, among other user applications.”

The CEO further said the 5G experience is currently available at two sites in Blantyre and Lilongwe, before expanding to Mzuzu and Zomba. In Blantyre, 5G will be accessible at Livingstone Towers and in Lilongwe at Bingu International Convention Centre.  

The 5G network is designed to not only deliver faster, better mobile broadband services while also further improving 4G LTE with the same core technology but can also expand into new service areas such as mission-critical communications and connecting the massive IoT for uses such as SMART Agriculture, AUTOMATED Mining, ROBOTICS logistics and manufacturing, bringing Malawi into the future of the digital world.

The CEO added that after successfully piloting the 5G technology, TNM will add 5G sites in Malawi resulting in immense socio-economic development benefits as 5G offers agile and high-speed, internet capabilities with less or no latency.

“With 5G, TNM customers will enjoy the best internet experience in the world. 5G will be significantly faster, offers more capacity (spectrum), has significantly lower latency, is a unified platform and uses better spectrum,” he said.

On the MAHAPE campaign, Herbert said the landmark is about TNM network’s ability to bring happiness to customers, saying: “The communications campaign aims to capture the happy moments that the TNM network creates in the everyday life and business of our customers.

“The goal is to celebrate our network’s capability to empower users in their respective areas of endeavors, while achieving different milestones.”

MAHAPE will be applied in all its services and products to reflect its wide range of customers’ positive aspirations, with Herbert sating: “The essence of what we can create and deliver for our customers using the TNM network, the happy outcomes of all transactions on TNM network.

“These transactions include TNM internet and voice services, value-for-money data, and voice packages, Mpamba, Enterprise and Cloud Computing services, among others,” he said.