Chairman's Commentary

I have the honour to submit the Annual Report and Financial Results for the year ended 30 September 2011, approved by the Board of Directors on 5 December 2011.

Whereas 2010 was marked by severe turbulence on a global scale resulting from the international financial sector, the year 2011 remained highly uncertain in the European zone.

Nevertheless, the Namibian economy has moved at an interesting pace. It is clear that there was an increase in people's disposable income, and that positively affected MTC's corporate business directly and indirectly.

Another positive contribution was the strong exchange rate to the US dollar. Some of the work in progress projects was paid in advance, especially the schedule of payments to the joint venture of the undersea cable, WACS, which was paid in US$.

MTC's strategy of maintaining flexibility was under pressure from the regulatory environment but despite the obvious weakness from the second mobile operator we never let up, due to the demand from our customers in voice, SMS and especially in data (internet) access.

We have witnessed many products and services that were made available through wireless telephony. You will agree with me that mobile technology went from merely calling and receiving calls to sending short text messages, sending pictures, receiving e-mails and accessing the internet all from your handset. Tablet devices and handsets are now replacing everything we used to do on our computers. This has made our lives considerably easier and those of us who were resistant to change had no choice but to adapt and make use of this incredible new service offering.

When people adopt the new technology because they realise that it can improve their lives, only then do we know it was successful. I would like to congratulate the entire MTC team, through its Management that communicated the needs of customers to the Board of Directors clearly, enabling them to make the correct decisions. The MTC Board is committed to maintain this strong focus.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the Board of Directors, representing this partnership between the Namibian Government and Portugal Telecom that is an indelible contribution to the long-term success of MTC.