Online Reporter
Online Reporter
Chivi Central legislator, Cde Exevia Maoneke, has moved a motion in the National Assembly calling on the Government to open up the telecommunications sector to improve access and cater for marginalised areas.
Moving the motion on Tuesday, Cde Maoneke said the dominance of few players in the sector, coupled with limited competition, had contributed to disparities in network coverage across the country.
He urged the Government to open the sector to new players, strengthen competition rules and compel greater infrastructure sharing among operators.
Cde Maoneke called upon the Ministry of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services and the Competition and Tariffs Commission (CTC) to come up with policy measures that attract new telecommunication service providers to establish shop in Zimbabwe.
He said there should be a comprehensive package of legal, regulatory and policy reforms aimed at increasing competition, lowering the cost of connectivity, improving service quality and extending reliable telecommunications services to underserved communities.
“Parliament must review and enact laws that promote effective market competitions that address fully issues such as market dominance,” said Cde Maoneke.
“The Ministry and the Competition and Tariff Commission should regularly assess the telecommunications market to identify anti-competitive practices such as abuse of market dominance, predatory pricing, collusive behaviour or exclusionary practices.
“Where competition is found to be ineffective, the CTC should enforce the Competition Act through appropriate investigations and corrective measures to ensure a level playing field for all operators.”
At the centre of Cde Maoneke’s proposal is a review of the telecommunications licensing regime to make it easier for new mobile network operators, mobile virtual network operators and other digital service providers to enter the market.
He urged Government to require telecommunications companies to share infrastructure, including towers, ducts, fibre-optic networks, power systems and transmission facilities.
Cde Maoneke said there should be regulations requiring telecommunications operators to publish transparent tariffs, simplify data-bundle terms and conditions, strengthen complaint-resolution mechanisms, compensate consumers for prolonged network outages and comply with enforceable quality-of-service standards.
He further proposed the establishment of regulatory sandboxes and innovation programmes to enable start-ups and technology companies to develop new digital products and services.
“Zimbabwe’s telecommunications market is not a legal monopoly, but it exhibits characteristics of a highly concentrated oligopoly, where effective competition is limited,” he said.
“The decline of Telecel has further left consumers and businesses with fewer meaningful choices, contributing to higher prices, weaker customer service, reduced innovation, and diminished bargaining power.”
Cde Maoneke said limited competition in the sector was contributing to poor customer service, with consumers facing long call-centre waiting times, unresolved billing disputes, delays in restoring network services and ineffective complaint-handling mechanisms.
He raised concern over disparities in network coverage between urban and rural areas, noting that cities such as Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Gweru and Masvingo generally had stronger 4G and expanding 5G coverage, while many rural communities continued to rely on weaker 2G or 3G networks.
“In some remote areas, mobile network coverage is intermittent or unavailable, limiting access to reliable voice and internet services, with many rural communities relying on a single operator due to uneven infrastructure development,” he said.
Cde Maoneke said Government should support areas, including fintech, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and Internet of Things applications.
He called for the strengthening of the Universal Services Fund, with more resources directed towards telecommunications infrastructure in underserved rural communities.
