MTC PLEASED WITH THE RETURN ON INVESTMENT FROM THE MTC SUNSHINE ACADEMY

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Windhoek - 27 January – 2014 -Just over a year ago, MTC announced a new sponsorship deal to the MTC Nestor Sunshine Boxing Academy to the tune of N$ 2.5 million per annum over the next 3 years. While many questioned the move and raised skepticism, Tim Ekandjo, Chief Human Capital & Corporate Affairs Officer at MTC today admits that the decision and choice of sponsorship was not just timely, but also spot on.

The MTC Nestor Sunshine Boxing Academy is a worthy investment, worthy of our partnership because they have a winning mentality, they compete with the best and replicate their success and importantly, represent Namibia well against the rest of the world. It is solely because of this Academy that Namibia is rated amongst the best boxing nations, Ekandjo said. When you are in the branding and marketing business, you will begin to appreciate what excellent national brand ambassadors these boxers are, worthy of our praise. They are in the ring for 12 rounds live on various international sports TV channels watched by millions of people around the world and sometimes get international viewers and spectators to hear about Namibia for the very first time. The first question they will ask is “where is he from?”, that in my view deserves national praise from those marketing our country as a preferred tourism destination.

Ekandjo said he was pleased to see the latest World Boxing Organizations (WBO) latest rankings and to see that our boxers from the MTC Sunshine Academy features amongst the best in the world. Vekapita “Beastmaster” Meroro is currently ranked 3rd in the world in the Cruiserweight division where Mario Huck (Germany) is the current world champion and Firat Arslan (Germany) rated 1st with Krzystot Glowacki (Poland) 2nd. Meroro is the only African in the top 10 in this division and he is in a very good position to challenge for the world title soon and that is remarkable, said Ekandjo.

In the Welterweight division, a division considered the toughest with the world’s best pound for pound boxers such as Timothy Bradley, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, I am proud to see Bethel “Tyson” Uushona right up there amongst the world’s finest rated 2nd only 1 place behind Manny Pacquiao (Philippines) who currently holds the WBO International title. Timothy Bradley (USA) is the current champion in this division. According to Ekandjo, Tyson stands a very good chance to become the mandatory challenger to the world title now that Timothy Bradley’s fight to Manny Pacquiao has been confirmed for the 12th April 2014.

In the Lightweight division, Paulus “The Hitman” Moses is ranked 4th with Ricky Burns (UK) the current title holder, with Terrence Crawford (USA) 1st, Raymundo Beltran () 2nd and Dennis Shafikor (Russia) 3rd. The Hitman is however currently the International Champion in this division and therefore in pole position for a shot at the world title.

In the division, Paulus “The Rock” Ambunda is rated 5th in the world. Tomoki Kameda (Jap) is the current champion with Punglung Sor Singyu (Thailand) 1st, Daniel Rosas (Mexico) 2nd, Randy Caballero (USA) 3rd and Ryosuke Iwasa () 4th. Tomoki Kameda is due to fight mandatory challenger Punglung Sor Singyu in due course, and thereafter Kameda must honour his rematch against “The Rock” which gives him another chance at the world title.

I am making reference to the above world rankings to highlight how proud we should be as a nation, and quite frankly, we need to give credit where it is due because these guys are great national ambassadors flying our flag proudly across the boxing world, said Ekandjo. When you make such a big investment towards a particular sports code, you do so with certain expectations, and I am happy to confirm that they have impressed us all the way with their professionalism, various accolades, ability to attract large spectators to every event and international performance, I am therefore confident that if things go according to plan, we might soon have 4 world champions across the different divisions all from Namibia, and that, ladies and gentleman is deserving of our praise and support as a nation, Ekandjo concluded.

ABOUT MTC:

MTC (Mobile Telecommunications Limited) was established in 1995 as a joint venture between Namibia Post and Telecommunications Holdings (NPTH), Telia and Swedfund. During May 2004, NPTH concluded a deal that saw it hold 100 per cent of the shares in MTC by acquiring the 49 per cent held by Telia Overseas AB and Swedfund International AB. During 2006 the sale of 34% of MTC shares to Portugal Telecom was concluded for N$1.34 billion while the Namibian government retains the remainder of the stake through NPTH.

MTC currently covers 98 per cent of the population of nearly 2 million citizens with more than 650 base stations and repeaters and offers a dual band 900/1800MHZ. The company also expanded its cellular coverage to all major towns in Namibia, including the major arterial roads.

The Company’s 3G HSDPA+ Network allows for a download speed of up 7.2 Mbps in Namibia’s major towns. It further runs two modern MSC’s (mobile switching centre) in Windhoek and Oshakati with capacity to accommodate rapidly rising number of customers of over 2 million active users. In May 2012, the company also launched its 4G technology – making it the second mobile operator on the continent to have 4G technologies.

MTC operates the only full service customer contact centre in Namibia dealing with service queries ranging from telephony, sms, fax, GPRS, data, voicemail and 3G/HSDPA. A staff compliment of 421 persons serves a diverse market of both pre- and postpaid subscribers