The Zambian government will spend US$24mn on the construction of 169 telecom towers across Zambia to improve cellphone coverage in rural areas
Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA), the country's telecom sector regulator, will implement the endeavor through government funding.
"The project is expected to be completed by the end of this year and could result in most rural parts of the country being connected to mobile phone networks," said Zambian President Michael Sata.
The country’s three mobile operators, MTN, Airtel and Zamtel, are all expected to be connected to the towers. They will also pay a fee to ZICTA for the usage of the towers.
Mobile operators in the country have been slow to connect their networks to rural areas because they rely on expensive diesel generators and most remote areas are not connected to national grid power in Zambia.
The countrywide installation of the towers would help reduce the cost of installations that mobile operators incur when installing their own towers, bringing down call and internet costs in the country.
Sata added, “This project is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year at a cost of US$24mn. The tower project will bring benefits of mobile phone services riding on it such as mobile money to more than 200,000 citizens amongst the rural population."
According to a study by Wireless Intelligence in 2012, Zambia has more than 5mn people who are reportedly not subscribed to mobile communication services and most of them live in isolated rural areas.
Earlier, Yamfwa Mukanga, minister of communications and transport, said that the mobile tower installation will begin in April 2014, all the tenders have been floated and preferred bidders have already been awarded contracts.
Meanwhile, by the end of 2014, the ongoing optic fibre network expansion is expected to cover a distance of 8,000 km from the current distance of 7,385 km. The project is expected to contribute to the Zambian government’s goal of narrowing the digital divide between urban and rural areas and stimulate socio-economic growth.
