Government has collaborated with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to invest in internet connectivity along the Lobito Corridor.
Minister of Technology and Science Felix Mutati says this will be done through laying fiber internet along the Lobito Corridor in order to enhance internet penetration among the countries sharing the corridor.
Speaking during the Digitalization Drive dialogue with Internet network providers in Lusaka, Mr Mutati observed that digital transformation is key to economic development in the country and the world at large.
He indicated that laying fiber internet on the Lobito Corridor from Congo DR, Angola and Zambia will enable cheap and fast internet for thus contributing to economic growth.
‘’The collaboration between Zambia and Congo will enable them to place the Lobito corridor at the center of investment. This will be attained because Zambia has created an enabling environment for investments,’’ said Mr Mutati.
And Democratic Republic of Congo Representative Blaise Azitemina Fundji noted the need for skills development for the end users of digital equipment’s especially the ordinary citizens.
Mr Fundji added that the Digitalization Drive dialogue is key to finding solutions to challenges faced in the regional Information Communication Technology (ICT) which is a key factor to economic transformation in the modern society.
‘’Regional Integration is important for international connectivity between Zambia and DRC as we are a part of the Lobito corridor and we hope the dialogue will help to find best ways to provide effective and efficient internet services to the end users in the region,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) Director General Choolwe Nalubamba in a speech read for him by Markets and Competition Manager Lwando Bbuku pledged to foster inclusive connectivity and secure ICT service to all.
Mr Nalumba stated that this will be achieved through providing internet connectivity in schools for learners and improved infrastructure development for all.
‘’Our aspiration as ZICTA is to provide secure ICT services to all through providing support to young entrepreneurs with new innovative ideas and the Digitalization Drive dialogue will help us find solutions to challenges faced in the ICT sector as a country,’’ he said.
There hasn’t been any serious investment in communication technology since the inception of the Mwembeshi earth satellite around 1984 that granted us an important gateway. Zamtel, which owns the infrastructure is still struggling as it’s dominated by the 2 foreign owned mobile network providers. Unless it’s privately driven, I don’t see anything good coming out of such deals
The truth is opposite to your statement. if you drive around Lusaka, you will see alot of fibre pole belonging to different providers. Between Kitwe and Lusaka, there more than 5 fibre lines belonging to different providers. There are fibre lines going into Zim, malawi, Tanzania, Angola, Botswana, DRC and Namibia. in short , the problem is over investment and each one trying to recover the cost within shortest possible time. if all these communication infrastructure could have been shared , instead of each providers investing its own infrastructure, the end user (clients ) could have been receiving cheaper services.
I only agree with you one point, this should be private driven. Nothing comes out of govt driven initiative of such kind. Govt have been at the centre of starlink internet. they even launched. but up to now, we dont know where to buy their satellite modems. Govt has no business in business.
@JK25, the only 2 major fibre optic network owners that I know are Zesco and Zamtel, CEC Liquid isn’t that much. Zesco’s is a little reliable while that of Zamtel isn’t. Some banks blame the usual peak monthly network failures on the Zamtel network. Paratus is still under construction. So who are those players that you have referred to that have networks that run into those countries?
We should create a Central System of Information for our country. Without information, we will be groping in the dark.