We have our origins in Witel Service Provider, a WISP (wireless internet service provider) founded by Thomas Castle in 2016. The company grew steadily into a full-blown internet service provider to homes and businesses throughout Namibia.

During 2020, Echo International made a minority investment in Witel, enabling expansion of the existing international capacity by adding an STM-16 (2.5Gbps) undersea cable route to the network during August of that year. Connecting directly to WACS (West Africa Cable System) meant limited dependency on other providers, and through direct peering, improved routing and caching services to ensure improved pricing and the performance of application, video and content services.

Seeing demand for services in the north of the country grow rapidly, with home internet usage escalating substantially due to the Covid pandemic, an upgrade of the national backbone in the north of the country added further redundancy and improved market pricing. The upgrade enabled continued provision of reliable and value-for-money internet connectivity to Oshakati, Ondangwa, Ongwediva and surrounding areas.

With the tragic passing of Witel’s founder, Thomas Castle, in 2021 due to Covid; Echo acquired full ownership of the business early in 2022, and the process of transitioning to Echo Namibia began. Becoming part of the Echo Group means that we are evolving into an ICT services business, able to draw on the collective know-how of supporting multinational companies across the African continent, as well as deep understanding and experience in building successful operating companies in Africa.

Because the partnership with Echo goes back more than 2 years, the process of integrating our businesses has been underway for some time, positively affecting the provision of services to our clients, widening the scope of our solution portfolio, and increasing our reach across the African continent and beyond.