Government has embarked on a programme to connect the whole country to mobile phone network by next year.
Permanent secretary in the ministry of transport, communications, works and supply , Charles Sipanje says currently 73 percent of the country is connected to mobile phone network.
Mr Sipanje says Government through the Zambia information and communication technology authority-zicta will soon embark on phase two of the project to erect communication towers in the remote parts of the country.
ZNBC’s chansa mayani reports that mr sipanje was speaking at a group dinner ahead of the 2015 world summit on the information society -wsis forum in Geneva, Switzerland.
Mr Sipanje further said Government is making headways in connecting the country to fibre optic network to ease communication.
And ZICTA director general Margaret Mudenda has called for more investments into mobile phone and internet services.
Ms Mudenda says the countrywide infrastructure development currently being undertaken should be supported by investment into information communication technology.
She said mobile phone and internet services should no longer be a preserve of the privileged few.
She however, says ZICTA is cautious of the cyber security risks that people may be exposed to in the transformation of the ict sector.
Ms Mudenda says the authority has introduced programmes especially targeting the youth to protect them from the bad vices associated with icts.
The permanent secretary and the zicta chief executive are leading a team of experts that are participating in the 2015 high level, world summit on the information society forum which is being held under the theme, “enabling icts for sustainable development”
.
The forum which officially opens on Tuesday has been organized by the international telecommunications union, and three united nations agencies.
These are the united nations development programme, unesco and the united nations conference on trade and development
We’ve failed to migrate to digital from analogue and now you start this empty promise? For sure you have been overtaken by a small TV station MUVI. I know that it’s not true 73% is not covered you’re trying to point a good picture to the outside world yet you all know this is far from truth.
There is need for serious investment into internet service provision.
Currently, internet connection in Zambia is not only slow, but is equally very expensive. service providers also exploit userswith their usless but expensive bundles.
with todays usage of internet, how much can one do with 500MB or 1GB? not even enough for an update!!
Increased investment will make it affordable and accessible
Bring VODAFONE. Then there will be competition
You couldn’t help but find something to complain about. All you see from your country is negativity, your brains are programmed not to see anything positive.
In other related news, maybe this development will enable people in remote areas to vote electronically using their mobile phones.
Namibia did it.
we live in a remote area with airtel cellphone towers around us yet we cant get a signal!!!! Airtel must be
forced to update their systems or leave this country.
Their service is beyond poor and their fees are beyond ridiculous…..do city dwellers have the same problem with this network ??? I cannot connect to another network as we do not have any other networks in our area…
What connect the whole country? Utter rubbish you can not get proper signal in some residential areas in the capital city…I don’t know why we are paying high spec prices for sub standard Chinese transmitters when we can get ten times better with proper support from Western companies.
The signal is so appalling in places that the 1/4 of your talk-time is wasted on connecting.