The CEO’s department oversees the organisation as a whole, as far as strategic direction and management is concerned, to achieve the overall operational objectives of the organisation and to ensure that the provisions of the Communications Act (No. 8 of 2009) and the Public Enterprises Governance Act are effectively implemented.

 

The department is ultimately responsible for effective corporate governance practices within the organisation by putting in place proper and practical frameworks and processes that will facilitate and ensure compliance with the principles of good governance, ethics and transparency by all in CRAN, including its Board of Directors.

 

The CEO’s office is tasked to transform the ICT sector by regulating and licensing through the subsidiary departments it manages;

 

To promote efficient competition amongst service providers and operators with the assistance of the economics and research department;

 

To empower operators to carry out services specified in their licences with the assistance of the operations and legal advice departments;

 

To protect and empower consumers on competition, price, quality and service within the ICT industry with the assistance of the Legal Advice department and Corporate Communication departments;

 

To ensure adherence to statutory requirements and timelines with the assistance of the legal advice department, to maintain healthy stakeholder relationships; and

 

To provide operational management and leadership of the organisation, and to improve internal work processes, staff performance and overall effectiveness, including sound financial and efficient management with the assistance of the HC and Finance departments.

The COO oversees of three Departments, namely: Electronic Communications, UAS and Postal Service.

 

The Electronic Communications Department, is responsible for the overall planning and coordination of activities relating to Use and allocation of radio spectrum, conducting interference investigation and cross border spectrum coordination, licensing of Electronic Communications Services and Telecommunications Equipment’ Type approval, management of numbering resources, enforcement and compliance monitoring of Infrastructure Sharing, Quality of Service regulations, within the applicable standards and procedures. The department is also responsible for management and support of CRAN internal IT Infrastructure.

 

The Universal Service Department provides support to the ICT market’s growth and development through the expansion of Universal Access and Services (UAS) regulations and the administration of the Universal Access and Services Fund (USF) for both basic and advanced telecommunications services, to locations and populations in Namibia that are not adequately covered or not covered at all by existing network infrastructure and service options.

 

The Postal Service Department, oversees the regulation of all postal services in Namibia as enabled by Chapter VII of the Communications Act No. 8 of 2009.

 

Team

 

• Chief Operations Officer
• Head: Electronic Communications
• Manager: Electronic Communications & Projects
• Manager: Spectrum Management
• Manager: Postal
• Electronic Communications & Projects Officer
• Senior Spectrum & Licensing Officers x2
• License Compliance Officer
• ICT Administrator
• Junior Spectrum & Licensing Officer
• Type Approval Officers x2
• Junior Type Approval Officer
• Type Approval Registry Clerk
• GIS: Project Assistant UAS
• Registry Clerk

 

Team

• Head: Economics and Sector Research
• Senior Economist
• Senior Financial Analyst

This department advises the authority, management and staff on legal matters.

 

It represents CRAN at all hearings, public consultative meetings, workshops, training, and stakeholder engagement sessions. It is moreover, also responsible to represent the authority at all court matters and official meetings, providing legal support according to all the relevant legislative regulations.

 

The legal department also reviews all communications and press releases issued by the authority.

 

It monitors the legislative landscape and identifies laws, both in the country and regionally in SADC, that have an impact on the authority, ensuring it stays abreast of any legislative changes;

 

It drafts and reviews contracts and documents of a legal nature in order to minimise legal risk for the organisation, which task is ongoing;

 

It provides legal opinions and performs research;

 

Manages the process of enforcement by supervising compliance of the licence conditions by licensees;

 

Ensures regulatory and statutory compliance;

 

Manages the licensing process in terms of reviewing applications for compliance, publications, and hearings, and provides advice on applications and recommendations in order to ensure that the decision to award licences is procedurally and substantively correct where required;

 

Provides advice on the constitutionality and legality of administrative actions of the authority; and

 

Manages the tariff approval process in the form of advice on tariff submissions and approvals, in order to ensure legality or compliance with the Act on an ongoing basis.

 

The department also reviews and analyses the annual trend register for submission to the Board regarding consumer complaint trends for the year. This task is conducted bi-annually.

 

Drafting legislation and regulations

 

In line with the authority’s strategic plan, the legal department identifies, initiates, recommends, drafts and reviews legislation, including the Communications Act.

 

In this regard, it liaises with external legislative drafters as well as the attorney-general and government’s legislative drafters.

 

Debt Collection

 

It is also responsible for the collection of arrear licence fees and levies through outsourcing to debt collectors.

The Human Capital department manages all human resources services in the organisation, both on a strategic and administrative level. The department aims to be a strategic partner by ensuring that employees are capacitated with the necessary tools to maximise their potential and make meaningful contributions to the mandate of the organisation.

 

The department is responsible for the following functions:

 

Talent Acquisition and Management;

Benefits and Administration:

 

• Yearly CPI increases; and
• Implementation of the new remuneration scales.

 

Industrial Relations:

• Grievances, disciplinary matters; and
• Union engagement and management;

 

Job description review and grading;

 

Performance Management;

 

Compilation of yearly Affirmative Action reports;

 

Employee Engagement Initiatives;

 

• Team building activities;
• Change management;
• Staff meetings; and
• Suggestion box.

 

Training and development;

 

• Training plan; and
• In-house training plan.

 

Development and Implementation of HR policies and procedures;

 

Occupational Health & Safety;

 

Employee Wellness:

 

• Mental health awareness session, health screening, soup Fridays & spring Fridays, blood donation clinics, cancer walks and all matters concerning employee wellbeing.

 

Team

• Head: Corporate Communication
• Senior Corporate Communication Practitioner
• Corporate Communication Practitioner
• Assistant Corporate Communication Practitioner
• Receptionists/Office Administrators x2

The finance department provides strategic analysis and insightful contributions into the strategy and planning process. They report on the relevant financial and operational information for decision-making. They implement controls to ensure effective and efficient processes and transaction systems. The department also adheres to prudent management accounting principles and controls, cost management systems, and manages tender, contract management and procurement processes.

 

Its successes include:

 

The production of the monthly management accounts;

The production of the annual report, yearly, since the inception of CRAN; and

A host of finance policies and procedures.

Internal Audit is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve CRAN’s operations. It helps CRAN accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes.

 

In carrying out its duties Internal Audit aspires to fully adhere to the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing (the Standards), the Institute of Internal Auditor’s Code of Ethics, NamCode and the King III Report on Corporate Governance.

 

The control processes are expected to ensure, among others:

 

• Risk management practices and infrastructure are adequate and effective to ensure that all significant risks are identified and appropriately managed;
• Financial, managerial and operational information is valid, accurate, reliable and reported timeously;
• Compliance management practices are effective to ensure that those policies, standard procedures, laws and regulations which could have a significant impact on operations, are complied with;
• Assets are adequately safeguarded;
• Resources are employed economically and efficiently;
• Programmes and operations are being carried out as planned; and
• Established plans, goals and objectives are achieved.

 

The department administers the following functions:

 

Risk Management:

 

Internal Audit, on behalf of CRAN’s management, is accountable to the Board for designing, implementing, communicating and monitoring the risk management process and activities. It ensures compliance with the risk management policy and procedures, i.e. ensures that management timeously identifies, analyses, evaluates and treats risk.

 

The department further monitors and reports on the risk management plan, both on departmental and organisation-wide levels, to the Audit & Risk Committee.

 

Compliance Management

 

Internal Audit oversees compliance management by ensuring that all compliance obligations are timeously identified, analysed and evaluated, recorded, monitored and reported, on both departmental and organisation-wide levels. Additionally, the department ensures that compliance management is embedded in the daily operations and activities and that undertakings are periodically reported to the Audit & Risk Committee.

 

Business Continuity Management (BCM)

 

Internal Audit department, on behalf of CRAN’s management team, is accountable to the Audit and Risk Committee for co-ordinating the BCM process. This will include ensuring that a BCM Programme, which includes the BCM Policy and Business Continuity Plans, is designed and implemented, communicated, monitored and updated. The BCPs include:

 

• Emergency Response Plan;
• Crisis Communication Plan;
• IT Disaster Recovery Plan; and
• Succession Plan.

 

Team

 

• Acting Head: Internal Auditor
• Risk and Compliance Officer