MAP > Internet Providers in Zambia

Zambia is among the landlocked countries in the world with the focus on being able to develop the ICTs to be able to spur the much-needed growth in the digital economy. The consumers have benefited greatly from the access to the international submarine fiber optic cables that have seen a reduction in the fixed line as well as the mobile access pricing.

The pricing has also reduced in recent years as the network operators battle to be able to gain the customers in anticipation of the launch of the services by the UZI Telecom.

Government Universal Access Fund has been made considerable progress in being able to deliver the telecom services to the underserved areas, in particular in paying for over 1000 base station to be constructed. By the mid-2018, the project has helped to be able to extend the mobile overage to about 95% of the total population, and this project has been expected to be 50% complete by the end of this year. The mobile network operators have continued to invest in the 3G as well as the LTE based services, while several ISPs have also gone on to roll out the WiMAX wireless broadband networks.

The MTN Zambia has also initiated the FttP program, initially in Lusaka Zambia. The growth has been set to expand overall broadband penetration hugely in the coming years. Some of the companies that have been mentioned in this report include (Zamtel, LAP Green) Zambia Telecommunications, Bharti Airtel, MTN Zambia, Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC), Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO), Comium, Microlink Technologies, Cell Z (Zamtel), UUNet Zambia and Coppernet Solutions.

Some of the key developments that have been mentioned in this report include:
• Report update does include regulator market updates to the year 2017 December, the operator data to the Q2 2018, the recent market developments.
• The Vodafone Zambia awarded the license to be able to offer the VoLTE services.
• Zamtel commissions extra towers as part of the government-funded rural infrastructure project.
• The government has introduced a tax on the VoIP calls.
• MTN Zambia gets to announce the FttP rollout plans via the connected Home initiative, launching the microlending services Kongola.
• The Government has called for the Zamtel to be able to split into three units before being privatized.
• The Chinese government lends 273 million dollars to be able to complete the digital broadcast process by the end of 2017.