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This comes as some telecommunications and information communication technology (ICT) firms have claimed that they are introducing the technology into the country.
Potraz deputy director-general Mr Alfred Marisa told the Herald Business that although ICT companies did not require any special licensing to provide 4G services, the regulator had not allocated any such spectrum as at present.
“Potraz issues technology neutral licences. At the moment Potraz has not yet assigned spectrum for 4G technologies such as 3GPP Long-Term Evolution (LTE) or Mobile Broadband Wireless Access (MBWA)
“There is no licensing required but the spectrum for the wireless service. Any operator is free to offer 4G services if the spectrum has been made available.
“Broadband wireless services like LTE or MBWA do not need a special licence. Only spectrum fees needs to be paid. The current IAP licencees are free to use 4G as long as the spectrum assignments have been made and the necessary fees paid,” he said.
In telecommunications, 4G is the fourth generation Wireless Standards. 4G standards have high speed of up 100 Megabit/s and high mobility or as much as 1 Gigabit/s for low mobility communication on a wireless platform.
Recently, global broadband solutions provider, Alvarion Ltd, signed a US$1,5 million contract to supply its 4-Motion solution to Zimbabwean wireless broadband provider uMAX Ltd.
uMAX, an operating division of Dandemutande Investments Ltd, said it will now roll out a sizeable 4G network in Harare in the 2.5 GHz frequency. Alvarion provides optimised wireless broadband solutions addressing the connectivity, capacity and coverage challenges of telecommunications operators, smart cities, security, and enterprise customers. Mr Marisa said some of the networks that were being touted as 4G were not up to par.
“Most operators are rolling out 3.5G networks based on Mobile WiMAX technology. 3.5 or 3.75G is sometimes loosely referred to as 4G by some operators,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Potraz deputy director-general said mobile teledensity for the third quarter of the year stood at 64,85 percent, with mobile lines totalling 8,1 million subscribers.
On the other hand, fixed line teledensity remained low during the period under review at a mere 2,68 percent, with fixed lines totalling 337 881 subscribers nationwide.
Online Reporter