The ICT Sector in Zambia

1
The ICT Sector in Zambia
Overview Investment Perspective

• 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 countrys 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 Ministrys 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 countrys 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.

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
• Zambias geographic position offers a huge
  potential to connect to neighbouring countries
  thus becoming a regional hub.

11

• Thank you