# Can the WiMAX IEEE 802.16 Standard Be Used to Resolve Last-Mile Connectivity Issues in Botswana?
## 1 Introduction  
Generally, the public [1,2] has expressed concerns that the National Broadband Project, intended to provide affordable and universal services, has not delivered results and has failed. This situation led the public, including former senior government official for the Minister of Works, Transport, and Communications, [PERSON], to express dissatisfaction about the project's failure to meet the targets and deliverables of the national broadband project rollout [3]. [PERSON] warned that lack of connectivity and access could generate a distant dream rather than realistic aspirations due to a lack of affordability, quality service, and access. The former minister decried the persistent lack of affordable internet access to practical high-speed internet, and further warned the government to expedite the review of the national broadband project and ensure that the government realized the intended goals for innovation and creativity as the bedrock of the economy [3]. Many villages in Botswana, including with proximity to cities, towns, and urban areas, lack connectivity and access. For example, Kopong, Matseta, Gakuto, Ga-Modubu, and Manoko are cluster villages and experience broadband connectivity and access disparity, yet they are close by, and are not more than 10 km from each other. In addition, many villages are within 10 to 30 km apart and experience a disturbing lack of high-speed networks, for example, Samochima,Shakawe, Sepopa, and others with similar characteristics. This pattern suggests that service providers experience colossal costs due to sparse settlement patterns. The situation places an enormous challenge on the government and on service providers to provide infrastructure deployment and last-mile level connectivity and access [4]. WiMAX IEEE 802.16e, a relatively new access technology that allows for interface with LTE technologies, presents an opportunity [5] for Botswana's aspiration for a knowledge-based economy and for meeting connectivity for all. Developing countries, including Botswana, experience high infrastructure network development costs, exacerbated by highly scattered settlement patterns, low population density, and low income challenges [6]. These challenges negatively affect broadband services' expansion and speak to the alarming digital divide.  
Despite substantive investments in national fiber infrastructure development institutional and regulatory frameworks, many people cannot afford broadband services in Botswana. For example, in a study of 230 countries, Botswana ranked 167 among the most expensive for internet access and experienced urban skewed broadband services at the last mile level [7]. However, besides infrastructure challenges, the government needs to choose an appropriate technology for deployment that addresses low population densities, sparse settlement patterns, and low rural income. Many countries have introduced metro-Wi-Fi services (hotspot) to reduce access costs and improve efficiency. The intervention threatens MNOs and presents regulatory issues by turning wholesale and spectrum managers into service providers and competitors. In addition, instead of focusing on the spectrum and wholesale services management, the government has turned into a hotspot service provider. Such conflicting roles suggest a gap that requires developing frameworks to provide primary and subsidized broadband services.  
However, given the glaring connectivity and access challenges, Botswana's fiber infrastructure network goals and plans for connectivity for all remain far-fetched. The available literature indicates that broadband deployment has relied on wireless broadband technologies more than fixed, especially LTE and WiMAX IEEE 802.16e [8]. The following discussion presents WiMAX IEEE 802.16e testbed simulations and determines whether the government could benefit from the technology as an access medium for last-mile connectivity and access.