MTL to maintain fixed wireless deployment

Malawi Telecommunications Limited (MTL) says it is continuing to deploy CDMA-based fixed wireless services despite its stated preference for fibre-optic cables, reports local newspaper The Daily Times. 'We have fixed wireless systems such as CDMA which we are rolling out but you must realise that cables remain the best in terms of both quality and capacity,' said MTL Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Ken Mthuzi. 'For the foreseeable future we shall continue rolling out the wireless with greater momentum but cables will also be used as appropriate,' he added. Mthuzi went on to say that MTL is incurring huge losses due to cable vandalism, and that for the first seven months of 2008 cable repairs alone cost USD3 million.