Zambia ICT Sector Performance Review 2010 - Research ICT Africa

Towards Evidence-based ICT Policy and Regulation
Services. Though it is not cheap, it is much less expensive than satellite connectivity and it has
begun to undercut and erode Zamtel's previously protected international revenues.
Similarly, the Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) has built a 540 kilometer optic-fibre network
linking all the towns in the Copperbelt province at an estimated cost of US$9 million. CEC is
expanding its optic-fibre network into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with the
construction of a new power transmission line into Katanga.
Challenges
Like many other developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Zambia is facing numerous challenges
in the deployment and delivery of communications infrastructure that include the following:
• high technology acquisition and deployment costs especially in the development of the
national telecommunications backbone infrastructure;
• limited coverage and poor quality of existing telecommunications and Internet
infrastructure in the country;
• high cost and limited access to ICT infrastructure incurred by individuals and businesses;
• lack of special incentives for private sector participation in the development, management
and operation of ICT and related infrastructure projects; and
• monopolies in wholesale and retail markets of the telecommunication services sub-sector
including infrastructure.
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