Internet in Botswana

The Internet in Botswana is used by about 28.4% of the population. This is slightly lower than the figure of 28.6% for Africa as a whole in 2015.

Statistics

Internet users by region

	2005	2010	2014a
Africa	2%	10%	19%
Americas	36%	49%	65%
Arab States	8%	26%	41%
Asia and Pacific	9%	23%	32%
Commonwealth of Independent States	10%	34%	56%
Europe	46%	67%	75%
a Estimate. Source: International Telecommunications Union.

• Internet top-level domain: .bw
• Internet users:
  • 323,368 users, 15% of the population (2013).
  • 241,272 users, 148th in the world; 11.5% of the population, 166th in the world (2012);
  • 120,000 users, 154th in the world (2009);
  •   80,000 users (2007).

Broadband subscriptions by region

Fixed subscriptions:	2007	2010	2014a
Africa	0.1%	0.2%	0.4%
Americas	11%	14%	17%
Arab States	1%	2%	3%
Asia and Pacific	3%	6%	8%
Commonwealth of Independent States	2%	8%	14%
Europe	18%	24%	28%
Mobile subscriptions:	2007	2010	2014a
Africa	0.2%	2%	19%
Americas	6%	23%	59%
Arab States	0.8%	5%	25%
Asia and Pacific	3%	7%	23%
Commonwealth of Independent States	0.2%	22%	49%
Europe	15%	29%	64%
a Estimate. Source: International Telecommunications Union.

• Internet broadband:
  • 16,407 fixed broadband subscriptions, 134th in the world; 0.8% of the population, 143rd in the world;
  • 348,124 wireless broadband subscriptions, 102nd in the world; 16.6% of the population, 76th in the world.
• Internet hosts:
  • 1,806 hosts (2012);
  • 6,374 hosts (2008).
• Internet IPv4 addresses: 100,096 addresses allocated, less than 0.05% of the world total, 47.7 addresses per 1000 people (2012).
• Internet Service Providers:
  • 11 ISPs (2001);
  •   2 ISPs (1999).

ADSL

Botswana Telecom rolled out ADSL in early 2006. Current residential ADSL offerings include speeds from 512 kbit/s to 4096 kbit/s with prices from 292 to 863 BWP (~32 to ~97 US$).

ADSL has been introduced in the following areas: Gaborone, Tlkokweng, Mogoditsane, Molepolole, Phakalane, Francistown, Lobatse, Palapye, Maun, Kasane, Selibe-Phikwe, Letlhakane, Jwaneng, and Orapa.

Internet censorship and surveillance

There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or credible reports the government monitors e-mail or Internet chat rooms. The constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and press and the government generally respects these rights. The constitution and law prohibit arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence, and the government generally respects these prohibitions in practice.

See also

• Botswana Internet Exchange
• Botswana Telecommunications Authority
• Media of Botswana
• Telecommunications in Botswana

References

•  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the CIA World Factbook.

External links

• Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA).
• "Botswana", Africa south of the Sahara: Selected Internet resources, Stanford University Libraries.
• "Computer and Internet Use Among Families: A Case of Botswana", Rama Srivastava1 and Ishaan Srivastava, BVICAM’S International Journal of Information Technology (New Delhi, 2008).