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Mining

Zambia can only materially benefit from the rising copper prices if there is a mechanism for harnessing export earnings. The local currency can also be supported if copper export proceeds are banked locally, says Musa Dodia – the Private Sector Development Association Chairperson.

There is need to engage the large scale copper exporters to negotiate for them to start banking their proceeds locally so that the country can leverage its high export earnings from its mineral wealth to have huge US dollar deposits.

Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) have in the recent
days been trading at over US$8,000 per ton, it’s some highs hovering around US$9,600 and US$9,100 per ton.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Zambian Business Times- ZBT, Private Sector Development Association (PSDA) chairperson Yusuf Dodia said export earnings from mining companies in Zambia do not entirely come back to Zambia which means that the country does not benefit fully from the Copper earnings.

Dodia said the current copper prices is something that ought to benefit the country substantially and help the kwacha to appreciate but the challenge is that the money from the exports of copper do not come back to Zambia.

“The current copper prices is something that ought to benefit our economy quite substantially because in recent days we have seen copper prices go up to as high as US$9,600 per ton, this is something we have not seen before, they are very high.

“Some years ago when we were considering charging windfall tax for mining industry, the trigger price for that was US$7,000 dollars per ton and now we have highs of over US$9,000, therefore, these are much better days for copper pricing and a copper producing country.

“Now the challenge we have is that this money does not come into Zambia but it’s proudly recorded as part of our export earnings and a contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a huge part of export earnings but it never really comes to Zambia,” he said.

Dodia said this needs to be addressed with urgency to ensure the country benefits while the prices are still high. He said if the money from the export of copper comes into the country, the Kwacha can immediately begin to appreciate and adding value from the current K22 per US dollar to about K10 per US dollar.

“We will also see inflation come down rapidly from the current 22.2 per cent to single digit if we have a mechanism for harnessing these export earnings in Zambia and allowing those exports to build the Zambian economy.

“Harnessing the export earnings will enable the country to finance the growth of the economy, the diversification of the economy to empower Zambians who are running businesses in Zambia to borrow this money in order to expand their businesses to be able to pay more taxes to the government,” Dodia said.

He said this will enable Government to finance its national budget from domestic revenues and be able to finance its own development agenda and growth of the economy through infrastructure development.

“So the impact on the economy would be phenomenal to the extent that within the next ten years this economy will be self-sufficient and the GDP per capita will rise to about US$3,000 to US$4,000,” Dodia added.

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Zambia can only materially benefit from the

Markets

The stimulus package that government had launched through the Central Bank (Bank of Zambia) meant to inject liquidity by easing repayment of loans for corporates mainly through banks and extending repayment for local companies who borrow mostly through non-bank financial institutions has effectively been derailed by technocrats.

The stimulus package of K10 billion would have by now eased liquidity and loan repayment challenges that ensued on the back of Covid 19 pandemic that had disrupted business especially for local companies, but accessing the stimulus funds by micro finance institutions which actually lend to local businesses has effectively been curtailed.

Despite the change in the leadership at BOZ that saw Dr. Denny Kalyalya dropped and replaced with Christopher Mvunga, the disbursement of the stimulus funds have not improved with most local businesses continuing to complain of tight liquidity in the market and lack of support from the government for their businesses to survive the impact of the pandemic.

So far, only K4.1 billion out of the total K7.9 billion approved under the COVID-19 stimulus package has been disbursed. This is less than half of the total K10 billion stimulus package that was announced to aid financial sector and in effect businesses survive the Covid 19 first wave pandemic.

The Bank of Zambia (BoZ) last year announced a K10 billion targeted medium-term refinancing facility aimed at cushioning the adverse effects of COVID-19 on enterprises and individuals, with the funds expected to be distributed for onward lending through commercial banks.

According to the targeted medium-term refinancing facility report dated February 16 2021, BoZ received applications worth K9.3 billion from 13 commercial banks and 18 non-banking institutions.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Bankers Association of Zambia (BAZ) chief executive officer Leonard Mwanza said out of the K9.3 billion worth of applications received, only applications worth K7.9 billion were approved.

“So we [banks] have made some progress in terms of accessing funds from BoZ, the last report of February 2021, BoZ received applications from 13 banks amounting to K7.3 billion and 18 applications from non-banking institutions amounting to K1.9 billion. The total is K9.3 billion”.

“In terms of disbursements, out of the total approvals, K4.1 billion was disbursed representing a 41 per cent. From this, K2.8 billion went to nine commercial banks while K1.1 billion went to 11 non-banking institutions,” Mwanza said.

He said the number of people that have accessed the funds now stands at 36,987 out of which 302 were corporate customers and 36,685 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), households and individuals. He however did not give the breakdown between SME’s and individuals.

Banda said this has helped to improve liquidity within the financial [banking] system and has also helped financial service providers to provide relief to the various customers who were looking for help.

“It is a continuous process because we still have some money which has not yet been disbursed so I think as we go through the second wave, we expect that some financial institutions will continue to ask the Central Bank to release funds which are in turn channeled to businesses, individuals who might have applied for help in terms of improving their liquidity.

So this package has helped banks but more importantly businesses and individuals who are banked in the economy,” he said.

But analysts say the amounts that have been accessed by Micro finance institutions are the ones that would have a direct impact on most local businesses and individuals as these institutions are the ones that mostly lend to locals.

If you look at the K1.9 billion accessed so far, this amount is too small compared to the size of the informal sector and even the balance sheet of the micro finance sector. Moreover, President Lungu had issued a directive for BOZ to review the criteria used as only the multinational companies with bank accounts will end up accessing these funds when its actually meant for Zambian citizens and local companies and SMEs.

There is need to understand that most governments in most functional economies are even paying grants or stimulus checks to their citizens and local businesses to keep them afloat due to the negative Covid impact.

But what we are seeing in Zambia is that BOZ can not disburse even the conservative K10 billion stimulus fund for loan restructuring and offering of repayment holidays to local businesses through non-bank financial institutions, that’s how you end up with a dissatisfied society that government does not care about the plight of its citizens and their businesses.

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The stimulus package that government had launched

Markets

aYo Zambia has passed the one million customer mark in one year of its existence inspite of launching at the onset of Covid-19 pandemic in February 2020.

In a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, the microinsurer aYo Zambia is further aiming to double its market share in 2021 as it looks to give many Zambians as possible access to insurance.

The company offers hospitalisation and Life Insurance Cover through two insurance products, ‘Send with Care’ and ‘Recharge with Care’ and has seen access to insurance services and related claims grow in its first year of operation.

aYo Zambia’s ‘Send with Care’ and ‘Recharge with Care’ products cater for all MTN subscribers. aYo Recharge with Care offers life and hospital insurance cover every time customers recharge their MTN airtime.

aYo Zambia chief executive officer Andrew Nkolola, said consumer anxieties around Covid and its related economic challenges had heightened awareness of the need for protection and overall help in the event of either loss of life or hospitalisation.

“We are committed to helping our customers secure their financial wellbeing in these challenging times. In 2021, we will continue to put a strong emphasis on further benefit and cover enhancements to cater to the evolving needs of our customers and the market,” Nkolola said.

Insurance penetration in Zambia like bank accounts had been slow owing to the traditional distribution and customer acquisition models that key market players had adopted. However, Just like the way mobile wallet accounts have transformed the penetration of basic banking services, micro insurance via mobile phones is expected to push insurance penetration to a whole new level.

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aYo Zambia has passed the one million

Mining

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission – CCPC has ordered the slashing of cement prices from the current average prices of K140 per 50kg bag to K110 per 50kg bag, a reduction by 21%.

According to a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT by CCPC Senior Public Relations Officer Namukolo Kasumpa, the CCPC Board has ordered publicly listed Lafarge Zambia and privately held Dangote Cement and Mpande Limestone (Commonly known as Sinoma) to revert the cement market prices to pre-cartel prices.

“The CCPC Board has ordered Larfage Zambia Plc, Mpande Limestone and Dangote Cement to revert to the pre-cartel prices ranging between US$4.5 – U$5 for a period of upto 1 year effective [31 March 2021] date of receipt of the board decision”, stated Kasumpa

A quick conversion of the announced upper bound US dollar reference price of US$5 means that the market prices of cement are expected to be K110 at an average exchange rate of K22 per 1US$. This effectively means that cement market prices have been slashed from the current average prices of K140 to K110 per 50kg bag, a reduction of 21%.

The bureaucrats at CCPC seems to have this time around done their homework by using the very explanation by the cement companies who have previously justified the price increases on the depreciation of the Kwacha. The top cement producers have for all the previous two upward adjustment prices sited having a US dollar denominated cost structure as the main reason behind the price hikes.

The Zambian Business Times – ZBT had extensively followed through customer complaints and received whistle blower information via ZBT Facebook inbox and official email address editor@zambianbusinesstimes.com which was followed through with a series of articles and engagement with the regulator CCPC, cement industry experts and other stakeholders that has finally led to this price cut.

CCPC further stated that the decision to fine Lafarge Zambia Plc and Mpande Limestone Limited was made during the 49th Board of Commissioners Meeting for the Adjudication of Cases held in Lusaka on 30th March 2021.

Namukolo stated that after an exhaustive investigation by the Commission initiated in January 2020, following the Commission’s observations of a sustained increment of cement prices from an average of K55 to K100 per 50Kg bag between July 2019 and January 2020. The continuous price increment of cement by the parties led the Commission to suspect that there was possible collusion and an agreement to fix the prices of cement.

She said that the investigation which lasted for over one (1) year revealed that the parties shared price adjustment proposals seeking approval for price changes before the implementation date and in some cases before they were approved by their respective management. The exchange of commercially sensitive information on future prices and rebates demonstrated that there was a ‘meeting of minds’ among the Respondents to pursue an agreed objective.

The CCPC investigation established that company representatives from Mpande Limestone Limited, Dangote Cement Zambia Limited and Lafarge Zambia Plc held discussions and meetings which resulted in the development of a pricing philosophy to stop cement price reductions. The investigations also established that the Cement Companies had agreed on a flat rebate of ZMW3 sometime in December 2019.

The Board of CCPC determined that the sharing or exchange of commercially sensitive information relating to future prices and rebates by Mpande Limestone Limited, Dangote Cement Zambia Limited and Lafarge Zambia Plc amounted to an agreement. The Board of Commissioners further determined that this agreement was anti-competitive as it was used to fix the price of cement and share markets contrary to Section 9(1) (a) and (b) of the Act respectively.

The statement stated that CCPC Board notes that infrastructure development is the backbone of social- economic development and one of the Government’s key priority areas in the Seventh National Development Plan. The construction industry is very important for Zambia’s economic growth, infrastructural development and employment generation and the cement industry plays a vital part of this infrastructure development. The fixing of cement prices by the three Companies and setting of trade conditions therefore undermined a competitive market and was detrimental to consumers.

While the Board of Commissioners takes cognisance of the role Mpande Limestone Limited, Dangote Cement Zambia Limited and Lafarge Zambia Plc, play in the economy in general and their contribution to employment creation, their conduct had the serious effect of undermining infrastructure development both private and public especially with Government’s continued thrust on infrastructure development projects from roads, schools, clinics and development of district centres among others.

Based on these facts, the Board decided to fine Lafarge Zambia Plc and Mpande Limestone Limited the maximum fine of 10% of their annual turnovers for the two (2) years of 2019 and 2020 for price fixing and market sharing. The Board noted that Dangote Cement Zambia Limited was granted leniency as they were the only Leniency applicant and assisted with investigations.

Efforts to get comments from cement producers on what actions they intend to take and whether the cut in cement prices will be effected immediately are still underway by the time of publishing this article. See other articles done by ZBT on the cement industry Zambia Cement industry dysfunctional

See other articles by ZBT on the cement industry Cement companies accused of collusion., CCPC mute over cement price increase, Gypsum accounts for 5% in cement prices

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The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission -

Tech

A former Copperbelt University – CBU engineering Student, Abel Kayange has scooped the 2020 ZICTA ICT innovation program prize of K50,000.

Abel Kayange completed his degree programme in telecommunications engineering at the Copperbelt University last year 2020 and he spends most of his time watching documentaries of engineering innovations and ways of making a living through these innovations.

Abel was born on 8 April 1994 and is the fifth born in a family of six. He attended primary education at Chibolya Primary School, junior secondary at Kamwala Primary School and senior secondary at Libala Secondary School after which he went to CBU in 2015 and completed his programme in 2020.

While at CBU, Abel and his friends were told to design an automated way of how one can detect alcohol in a motor vehicle in order to reduce accidents, which they did.

The team then thought of doing something for themselves and decided to find ways of helping people in supermarkets spend less time on the till by coming up with a Smart Shopping Trolley. This idea was born in 2019 and in 2020, Abel and his two classmates from CBU implemented it.

Abel watched a documentary where a man suggested making shopping easy by designing a smart trolley and that is where the idea came from,  the man called it a smart trolley but did not explain how it was going to be done to make it smart.

Abel came together with two friends who worked on the programming while he worked on the electrical aspect and looked at what may be required such as an LCD, RFID reader and brought in motors because they wanted it to be able to move on its own just by pressing a button.

A ZigBee technology-electronic device used in communication from one circuit to the other was employed which is used to transfer information from the trolley to the counter section or till of a supermarket.

The smart shopping trolley operates in a way that once one puts goods in it, the total cost of the goods will be calculated and this information will reflect on the cashier’s till. Each trolley will have a trolley number so that when one goes to the till the cashier will simply look for the trolley number on their system and be able to see the total cost of the goods one has bought which means there is no need to go to a specific till.

The trolley has a screen, which calculates how much the goods you have gotten cost, has a button, which you press for it to move on its own, and has a constant speed so that those that may not manage to push it especially physically challenged and pregnant women can be assisted.

The sensor, which is the barcode has a certain radius which can be limited to the size of a trolley so that all the goods put in the trolley can be detected.

In their prototype, only one trolley was designed but they realised that looking at the ordinary trolleys available it may be difficult to have a fixed radius, which they had planned for in their design.

Abel is looking forward to making shopping enjoyable for people and secure for supermarkets so they can reduce on the losses that they incur due to theft. A system will be put at the exit and entrance of supermarkets to detect goods that have not been scanned and another in the trolley to detect all the goods being put in the trolley and making sure, they are scanned.

It took the three friends eight months to develop the trolley due to Covid-19 because some borders were closed and all the components were found in the United Kingdom, which they bought via Amazon so they waited for 5 to 6 months to buy the components, which costed about K3,000.

They would have taken less than two months if not for the pandemic because everything was already on paper and all that was left was buying the components.

Zambia not having an industry that produces the components that they needed was the biggest challenge, the other was finances, after the research was done, the team realised they had to buy all the components outside Zambia and had no money at the time.

An engineering lecturer, Mr. Mugala who used to take Abel and his friends in programming and project designing provided help knowledge wise and encouraged them to say it was possible until it became a reality.

Abel and his friends are focusing on marketing the trolley and have targeted supermarkets such as Shoprite who have responded positively, Pick N Pay and Game stores, as it is easier to bring other supermarkets on board once the big ones agree.

They are also looking for investors willing to collaborate with them, as they would need more funds to be able to supply a big number of trolleys to supermarkets.

People questioned whether it was a practical innovation and whether it would work in Zambia, which helped them think more because they thought of ways of improving the trolley due to criticism.

They also got comments about how innovation may not go anywhere in Zambia because people and companies do not take interest to help implement innovations further, you are given something to show appreciation for coming up with an innovation and it ends there.

ZICTA and other companies that the authority was working with taught them about business, marketing and pitching proposals among other things.

The K50, 000 cash prize won from the ZICTA ICT innovation programme will go towards registration of the company, patents and buying of some components needed to design a big trolley because a small prototype was designed for the ICT innovation programme.

Due to not meeting physically with ZICTA because of the Covid-19, he almost gave up on the way because he thought he was spending a lot of money on bundles as Zoom and WhatsApp were the only mode of communication but his friends encouraged him to continue.

Abel felt intimidated when he heard the ideas of other contestants in the programme and what they had done, he did not think he would win but with time he realised that it also depended on how people look at your presentation, how they think it will help and how much they believe in you.

He has advised young people with innovative ideas to listen to the views of the people around because sometimes what may seem like criticism maybe ideas that people are bringing on board to help one’s idea be more practical adding that innovators should not give up but push their innovations and make them as practical as possible.

Abel says the journey of an engineer who is also an entrepreneur and is going to change the face of innovation not only in Zambia but in the world too has begun for him.

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A former Copperbelt University - CBU engineering

Mining

Newly appointed Zambia Chamber of Mines – ZCM president Dr. Godwin Beene has said Zambia must regard capital flows into less endowed and even into more operationally challenging jurisdictions as lost investment.

According to information made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Dr. Beene said as long as tax measures such as the non-deductibility of mineral royalty persist, even at 50 per cent deductibility as suggested by some, Zambian mining will remain uncompetitive and unable to afford the cost of capital.

The incoming President said that the Chamber of Mines will continue to play its role in highlighting to Government and stakeholders impediments to growth in the sector, alerting the Ministry of Mines of the emerging opportunities and trends in the industry and fostering transparency under the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) umbrella.

“At an appropriate time, we hope that a national mining indaba with government could be held as the time for us to take the high road and gain acceleration is now,” he said.

Dr. Beene said his immediate priority will be being close engagement with all stakeholders. He said this engagement will aim at ensuring the mining sector becomes competitive again and attracts new investors while motivating expansion by existing investors who have boldly weathered local and international storms since 2000.

The Chamber of Mines President pointed to the perfect storm of Copper demand growing fundamentals driven by North American, Chinese and European governments’ resolve to stimulate their economies by ramping up green energy generation and rolling out supporting infrastructure that will accelerate the speed of uptake of electric vehicles.

“We need to maximize on this opportunity to change the fortunes of the industry from those of the last fifteen years that have seen production fluctuate below 1 million tons per annum,” he said.

Dr. Beene is taking over from Goodwell Mateyo, Company Secretary of Mopani Copper Mines who had successfully served the organization for two years. He is currently First Quantum Minerals Government Relations Specialist, a position he took on 5th March 2021, after the Council of the ZCM elected him.

He served as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Mines from 2009 to 2011. This period saw improved relations with new and existing investors and significant inflows of investment in the sector, which resulted in countrywide geological surveys and mineral exploration, including for oil and gas.

Consequently, groundbreaking of Kalumbila Mine, Lubambe Mine, the resumption of operations of Luanshya Copper Mines and development of the NFCA’s South Orebody took place.

In the same period, development of Maamba Coal Power Plant and the recommissioning of Munali (Mabiza) Nickel Mine followed.

With a heightened level of interest in the sector, the Zambian chapter of the EITI was launched in 2009.

Dr. Beene obtained an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering at University of Wales, University College Swansea in the United Kingdom in 1981 and joined Nchanga Tailings Leach plant.

In 1984, he won a Beit Trust scholarship and returned to his alma mater where in 1988 he was awarded a PhD in Chemical Engineering. He went on to hold several senior turnaround roles in the industry at Luanshya, Chingola and Kitwe.

He is credited as one of the influencers of change that saw birth of the modern Engineering Institution of Zambia and its Engineering Registration Board, having served as Secretary and President of the Professional Body.

Mateyo, the outgoing President has since congratulated Dr. Beene and echoed the unanimous confidence of the Chamber of Mines Council in his leadership as the industry comes to a most critical fork in the road of its development.

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Newly appointed Zambia Chamber of Mines -

Markets

Accomplished economist and former Bank of Zambia – BOZ Director Peter Banda has been appointed as Pensions and Insurance Authority – PIA Board Chairman.

Minister of finance Dr. Bwalya Ng’andu has appointed Peter Banda as the new board chairperson for the Pensions and Insurance Authority (PIA). The appointment was done in accordance with the pensions Scheme Regulation Act for a period of three years.

Banda is an accomplished executive and economist with over 35 years of experience in the financial sector with his last appointment as a senior director, Monetary Policy at BoZ where he worked for about 30 years until his retirement in 2015.

At BoZ, he also served as director economics, director- financial markets and director regional office, Ndola. Banda also served as the deputy registrar of banks and financial institutions for 17 years at the central bank.

He has also served as board member of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from 1999 to 2003 and 2009 to 2011. Banda holds a Masters Degree in Economics from New Mexico state university in the United States of America and a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from University of Zambia.

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Accomplished economist and former Bank of Zambia

Mining

The Association of Mine Suppliers and Contractors (AMSC) has called on Government and ZCCM IH to quickly sort out the issues surrounding Chambishi Metals Plc to ensure that it resumes operations and avoid further asset deterioration.

In January 2020, Chambishi Metals Plc was placed under care and maintenance, sending 229 workers onto the streets.

Speaking in an interview with Zambian Business Times- ZBT on 23 March 2021, association president Augustine Mubanga said it was not right to put a processing plant on care and maintenance for over a year when there were enough materials in the country to be processed for both copper and cobalt.

He said Government should instruct the investor to reopen the plant or handover the plant to ZCCM-IH to ensure that the plant keeps operating.

Mubanga said at the current copper prices, it was expected that companies would be increasing production in an effort to take advantage of the rising copper prices on the London metal exchange.

“The issue of Chambishi metals needs to be sorted out as soon as possible. That is a processing plant. You cannot put a processing plant on care and maintenance when there is enough material around the country that can be channeled to the company to process both copper and Cobalt.

“Our appeal to government is that they instruct the investor to reopen the plant, if the investor doesn’t want to, it will be good for him to hand over the plant to ZCCM-IH or government to ensure that the plant is kept busy for the benefit of the country,” he said.

Mubanga said keeping a plant on care and maintenance for over a year may prove to be expensive when they want to reopen the plant either at once or in a phased manner because there would be need for more capital injection to make it active.

Chambishi Metals Plc was involved in the mining, refining and tolling of cobalt and copper in Chililabombwe District of the Copperbelt Province where ENRC Capital owns a 90 per cent stake, leaving the remaining 10 per cent shareholding with ZCCM-IH.

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The Association of Mine Suppliers and Contractors

Markets

The Insurers Association of Zambia (IAZ) says it is keen to promote development, industry growth and the welfare of all Zambians through provision of affordable insurance products and services.

Speaking during the launch of #FinancialLiteracyWeek2021, which the Zambian Business Times-ZBT is participating in, IAZ president Christabel Banda said IAZ believes that insurance is crucial for financial protection and recovery when misfortunes strike.

Banda said businesses and individuals must recognise the importance of insurance and that matters of financial risk should not be left to time and chance.

“Inclusive insurance, also known as micro-insurance, is affordable and accessible”. #Globalfinancialweek. Experts say Micro insurance has potential to increase insurance penetration across the country and achieve developments goals related to financial inclusion.

“I wish to reiterate the importance of financial literacy for economic empowerment, at every level of society. Financial literary is about the knowledge and skills needed to make good financial decisions, and it is important that all citizens are empowered with this knowledge,” she said.

Banda said this is the key to financial inclusion, which is about including all citizens in the beneficial use of financial services.

She said the financial literacy week’s theme “Take care of your health, take care of your money,’ addresses the biggest challenges of this time which include the health challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and other health concerns like non-communicable diseases, cancer, and among others.

She said there are also the economic challenges the country is facing, as such the theme reminds the people of the need to have to take responsibility for personal health and make the best of available financial services.

“We also wish to remind the public to only deal with licensed insurance providers, and if in doubt it is important to confirm that you are dealing with a registered organization or individual. It is important that we make a concerted effort to tackle financial fraud and root it out of society.

“We wish to remind the general public that even as we battle with immediate financial challenges, remember to protect your health, protect your money,” Banda said.

She said, “every sector of the economy has been impacted by the current pandemic, and the insurance industry is no exception”.

Banda said in an attempt to decongest offices and remain accessible, IAZ continues to encourage its members to make use of online and telephone platforms for service delivery.

She said already several insurance providers have effective online platforms, and several other insurers are seeking to make better use of Information and communication technology (ICT) solutions to ensure that many services can be accessed from the comfort of your home.

“ICTs are an essential part of business in the new normal, and the insurance sector is adapting to serve the public better,” Banda said.

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The Insurers Association of Zambia (IAZ) says

Tech

The Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) has cashed in US$13.5 million from a spectrum deal with MTN. The ICT regulator awarded MTN Zambia radio frequency spectrum in the 800 MHz frequency band for US$13.5 million (about K297 million).

ZICTA said the mobile network operator intends to complement the utilisation of its existing spectrum resources with this additional spectrum to improve the quality of its voice and data services.

ZICTA Corporate Communications Manager Ngabo Nankonde said MTN Zambia intends to introduce Voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE), a technology that has superior quality of service and will leverage on the additional resources to extend the range and depth of its 4G coverage.

According to information made available to the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Nankonde said MTN has also proposed to introduce a multimedia subsystem (IMS) to their core network to support their plans for the introduction of VoLTE.

Nankonde said the IMS is a standard high speed wireless communication which has great potential to offer better quality of experience for consumers and could facilitate the increased adoption of ICT services in the country.

She noted that this is the second award of radio frequency spectrum in the 800 MHz frequency band by the authority in less than three months adding that in December last year, Airtel Networks Zambia was also awarded spectrum in the same frequency band.

She said the developments follow a determination made by the authority last year, pursuant to section 54 (6) of the ICT Act No 15 of 2009 which determined that spectrum in the 800MHz band was on high demand and should therefore be subjected to a competitive granting procedure.

She told ZBT that the decision to award spectrum in the 800MHz band to industry players was also aimed at enhancing the quality of experience for consumers as adoption and usage has continued to grow exponentially.

According to the 2020 Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) Annual Market Report, active mobile telephone subscriptions increased from 17.2 million reported at the end of 2019 to 19.1 million subscriptions recorded at the end of 2020 reflecting an increase of about 11%.

The ICT regulator has urged MTN to expedite the process of enhancing the quality of their services by efficiently utilizing the newly acquired spectrum resources and looks forward to seeing an impactful outcome of the recently assigned resources towards the development of the ICT sector.

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The Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority