Gambia Telecommunications Company Ltd
(Gamtel)
Paper Presented online to the
Strategic Skills Seminar –
J’Burg, Sept 7 – 8th 2004
Mam N Touray (using Interwise Platform)
GAMTEL, Gambia
Agenda
The Gambia & Gamtel in Brief
The Challenges we face
Our Current offerings
Future offerings
Rationale for the Change
Challenges facing Gambia (Africa??)
Recommendation?
Conclusion
The Gambia
Gambia & Gamtel (in brief)
The Gambia – Western most end of West
Africa with Population – about 1.2Million
Pre-Gamtel era
Separation of Telecom and the Post (1977)
Telecom handled national services
International services handled by Cable &
Wireless (a UK company).
Gamtel established in 1984.
– National & International services merged
– Public owned –Government (99%), GNIC (1%)
Gambia & Gamtel (in brief Ctd.)
Gambia has a fast-growing telecommunications
market (43% growth during 2003 alone), with
three main participants:
– A monopoly fixed-line operator (Gamtel)
providing services to 45,000 customers
– Gamtel’s mobile subsidiary (Gamcel)
providing 80,000 customers with GSM
services
– A second mobile (Africell) operator with
35,000 customers
Our current offerings
Classroom based, instructor led
- IT Training – Microsoft Office
- Telecoms Technicians Programs
- Customer Relations (Customer care)
- Introductory Management Courses
- In-Country Courses – Courses conducted
by KCCT, AFRALTI, MDPI, BT, etc
Future Offerings
Customized and Industry specific
- ICDL
- e-Learning Platform
- Cisco Courses
a. Networking
b. CCNA
c. CCNP etc
Rationale for the Change
Due to the changes in society, business and technology, there is
the need to:
Deliver training to the whole workforce including
part-time / shift employees - whilst keeping check on
overhead costs
Improve knowledge and performance (SKILLS)
Reach people in remote locations
Provide training at flexible times
Make Training more readily available
Make Training more cost effective
Challenges facing Africa
Poor Infrastructure
Inability to capitalize on modern productive methods
– New Technologies not supported easily by Telecoms
Networks
– Poor/erratic Power Supply
– Limited transportation, therefore high costs
Limited connectivity
– telephone connections and Internet
Lack of Skilled Labour (Due to lack of relevant
Learning Facilities)
– Tertiary Education is unsuccessful in addressing skills
shortages (Programs academic in Nature)
– A large number of graduates are trained in
non-productive areas
Challenges facing Africa (Cont)
New graduates have no work experience
Relevant Industrial attachment possibilities not available
Resultant High levels of Unemployment
= increase in poverty and crime
Financial/Budgetary Constraints
High cost of fuel resulting in overall HIGH cost of living
Transforming to Blended (“mix of”)
e-Learning
Employers are more interested in using training methods that
tend to Increase Learner Engagement and Reduce Training
Costs.
Thus the need to use Blended e-learning approach to:
1) increase learning impact,
2) increase learner satisfaction and ease of use, and
3) reduce the total cost of training.
Conclusion
Together we can build skills !