The ICT Sector in Zambia

1. Overview & Investment Perspective The ICT Sector in Zambia Presented by: Ministry of Communications and Transport

2. Presentation Format Background Policy & Legal Framework Telecommunications Infrastructure Human Resource Broadband Connectivity Investment Opportunities Conclusion

3. Background Zambia being surrounded by eight (08) neighbouring countries makes a natural hub for telecommunications The Communications Sector contributes significantly to the country’s GDP. The rapid growth in the Communications sector can be attributed to increased investment and innovation in information and communication technologies. The Mobile Communications sector has triggered access to communications across the country. Over 4 million mobile phone customers in a population of about 12 Million There is still room for growth in the ICT Sector in Zambia

4. Background Continued Market Mix GSM Mobile Fibre Optic connectivity Internet Services Fixed Major Market Players ZAMTEL (Incumbent – under privatization) ZAIN Zambia (part of ZAIN Group) MTN Zambia (part of the MTN Group)

5. Policy & Legal Framework POLICY: Zambia launched the National Information and Communication Technology Policy on 28th March 2007. The document provides guidelines for the development and growth of the sector and is readily available at the Ministry of Transport and Communication or the Ministry’s website (www.mct.gov.zm). The Policy focuses on Competition as well as Convergence of Technologies and Services. Legal Framework: A new regulatory framework based on convergence and guided by technology-neutrality has been developed Information and Communications Act of 2009 Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 2009 Postal Services Act 2009 The Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA formerly Communications Authority of Zambia) regulates the sector.

6. Telecom Infrastructure Zambia is rolling out Fibre to provide effective national broadband connectivity. Currently there are three Zambian companies that have been licensed to operate as national Carrier of Carriers and have opted to lay fiber optics as a technology of choice. These are ZESCO (www.zesco.co.zm) , Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) (www.cec.com.zm) and Zamtel (www.zamtel.zm). ZESCO has completed laying about 1200km from Sesheke in Western Province via Livingstone-Lusaka- Ndola-Kitwe-Chingola-Solwezi to Lumwana in North Western Province. CEC has done about 520km of fibre connecting all Copperbelt towns. ZAMTEL is in the process of completing the installation of the countrywide fibre while the Metropolitan project in Lusaka has been completed. A Complete countrywide installation to form the core backbone requires about 3,700km of fibre. ZESCO and CEC fibre is available at 2.5Gbps. The entire network is to connect Zambia to the undersea cables. Zambia is already connected to the SAT 3 cable through the Zesco cable on the West coast of Africa via Namibia. There are plans to interconnect with the rest of the neighbouring countries in future.

7. Human Resource Human Capacity: The University of Zambia and Copperbelt University have been producing a number graduates in ICT on a yearly basis locally. However the number of graduates trained per year are still low. A number of colleges registered by Technical Education and Vocational Education Training Authority (TEVETA) are producing much higher outputs at certificate and diploma levels based mainly on the Institute of Management Information Systems (UK) syllabus. High school graduates are even more.

8. Broadband Connectivity Bandwidth: The ICT sector in Zambia uses both fixed and wireless broadband internet access. There are a number of players in the market but there is a lot of scope for investment.

9. Investment Opportunities Call Centres Utility companies and Telecom companies run their own Call Centres. Currently only one private call centre is operational, so there is huge potential for further investment on account of: Geographical position of Zambia Good educational levels with excellence in English language in Africa Excellent world relations with many countries (America, Europe, Asia) Manufacture of ICT equipment Zambia is promoting the development and manufacture of ICT products in the country as a way of creating hi-tech industries in line with the country’s Vision 2030 which aims at making Zambia a middle income nation. Zambia has established Multi-Facility Economic Zones to facilitate the development of Hi- Tech parks for skills and software development. Roll out of ICTs to Rural Areas. Opportunities to roll out ICTs in the rural areas exist through the PPP model. Zambia recently launched a National PPP Policy to encourage investment in such key sectors as ICT

10. Conclusion The ICT Sector in Zambia has seen accelerated investment over the past 5-8 years The National ICT Policy and new legal framework is designed to match world standards and practice in telecommunications. Human capital in ICT is increasing fast through training from the both public and private sector There is still room for investment in the uncovered population particularly Internet provision and manufacture of ICT equipment. Huge investments in the Mining and manufacturing sectors are triggering the high demands for ICT services and human resource Zambia’s geographic position offers a huge potential to connect to neighbouring countries thus becoming a regional hub.

11. Thank you