Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) was established in 1980 to provide, develop, operate and manage Botswana's national and international telecommunications services. BTC is a parastatal in which the Botswana government holds 100% equity. In 1996, an amendment of the BTC Act repealed the monopoly of BTC and introduced indirect competition through two cellular joint venture consortiums, Mascom Wireless and Vista Communications (now Orange). The Act further established a regulatory authority and liberalised the market with particular emphasis on customer premises equipment and value added services, many of which are now in full competition to BTC.
