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Enacy Mapakame
Telecoms regulator, Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz) says the country’s perceived risk has caused delays in the rolling out of some infrastructure sharing projects which should have helped bridge the network gap especially in rural areas.
According to the regulator, a shared base station project was supposed to cover 200 sites but failed to take off as funders shy away from Zimbabwe due to its risk profile.
Potraz technical services director Nicholas Muzhuzha said the authority had invited international companies to provide vendor financing for the project to roll out shared base stations and all the other related infrastructure in an effort to enhance connectivity in the country at more affordable rates to consumers.
“We invited an international company to provide vendor financing for this project, which is not only on shared base stations but also the equipment itself, and roll out to a few locations.
“Based on this model we wanted to roll it out to 200 sites but the vendor hasn’t been able to continue because no funder was willing to come through due to the perceived risk associated with Zimbabwe.
“Had this come through, it could have helped significantly to narrow the coverage gap,” he said responding to questions during a recently held fifth online edition of the economic development outlook program hosted by Global Renaissance Investments.
The programs focused on Information and Communication Technologies as enablers for growth during the fourth industrial revolution.
The infrastructure sharing initiative is expected to remove duplication of infrastructure as well as make telecommunications services more affordable to consumers. The programme also entails relocation of base stations to other areas without coverage. For instance, instead of having three base stations on a single hill by three mobile network operators, the other two will be moved to other locations and allow the operators to utilize the remaining one.
While voice coverage is now at 80 percent of the country’s population, Potraz has acknowledged the gap that exists especially with regards to internet connectivity especially in rural areas.
As such, the authority has been seized with efforts to ensure total connectivity across the country especially now at a time the economy is embracing more digital platforms, in line with global trends. This has also been necessitated by the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic with the market adopting e-commerce in order to observe lockdown regulations and social distancing to limit the spread of the pandemic.
In the education sector, students are also resorting to e-learning, but this still remains problematic for those in rural areas where connectivity is still limited.
“While we have covered ground on voice connectivity, there is still more we need to do to improve access to areas that don’t even have voice connectivity.
“COVID has exposed our shortcomings in rural areas where infrastructure deficits are more prevalent and now a challenge for school going kids to access learning material.
“We believe connectivity should be a basic right,” said Mr Muzhuzha.
Of recent, the telcos regulator has turned post offices into community information centres, an initiative to reach out to marginalized areas and allow them to access Internet services and other ICT related services.
Bongani Ndlovu