Local TV companies petition IBA over Topstar ‘unfair treatment’

Media owners in Lusaka have petitioned the Independent Broadcasting Authority – IBA over Topstar for what they have termed as ‘unfair treatment’ from the signal carrier.

Speaking during a meeting with the Independent Broadcasting Authority-IBA and Topstar, Media Owners Association of Zambia chairman Gerald Shawa said it is sad that Topstar has continued to disregard the contract terms with media owners by switching off the channels with impunity.

He said a number of TV stations have been switched off from the Topstar decoder without consulting IBA which is Zambia’s only regulator. Shawa questioned were Topstar gets its powers to the extent of disregarding the authority of IBA.

But IBA Director General Josephine Mapoma said Topstar has no power to switch off any channel without the authorization from IBA. She said Topstar is just a signal carrier who should work in consultation with IBA which is the Licensing authority.

And Topstar Technical Director John  said the black out of some stations on its bouquet was as a result of technical issues with some TV stations. He said, in some cases, some TV stations have absolete machinery and were failing to send the signal to their servers. He also explained that some channels were dropped because the satellite service provider has reduced their bundle.

Meanwhile, Shawa who is also Prime TV owner said the revenue sharing model implementation with Topstar has been pending for sometime. Shawa added that the proposed carriage fees imposed on TV stations is not sustainable. He said that Topstar is paying for foreign content but imposes carriage fees on local content, this is all at the expense of local content.

But, Topstar vice president Cliff Sichone explained that the issue of carriage fees is determined by ZICTA and will continue to engage media owners on the issue of revenue sharing. ZICTA is yet to confirm on this matter.

However, in an exclusive interview with Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Revelation TV owner, Stanford Chifita advised Topstar to respect local content service providers, saying once they pull off, the whole digital migration process will be a white elephant.

TBN owner Dr. Dan Pule said Topstar should respect all the license provisions while his CBC counterpart Pastor Jerome Chiluba urged Topstar not to fight local content providers but instead embrace and partner with them.

The Zambian government has pledged to implement local content laws and regulation but seem not sure on just how to go about this. However, a check across frontier African countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa show that these nations have moved at a much faster rate than Zambia.

Media owners in Lusaka have petitioned the

First ever electronic waste recycling company in Zambia launched

The first ever Zambian Electronic Waste Recycling Company called TCH E – Waste Zambia in collaboration with the European Union Commission – EUC has been launched. The electronic waste system will focus on collecting, sorting, exporting parts of e-waste and shipping for final disposal in an environmental friendly manner.

The company is set to begin its works in the next few weeks as it is in the process of finalizing its license from the Zambia Environmental Management Agency – ZEMA.

Speaking at the launch event of the e-waste system in Lusaka on November, 7 2019, TCH E-Waste Zambia representative Malcolm Whitehouse said most individuals are bound to store e-waste due to lack of solutions hence the newly launched system will address e-waste challenges in the country.

He added that the company is further in the process of developing campaigns with government to create awareness in various parts of the country and educate individuals in communities and schools on the importance of recycling waste.

And Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority – ZICTA Director General Patrick Mutimushi said it is timely to have new partners such as TCH E-Waste on board as failure to close the loop on e-waste such as computers and other ICT equipments could lead to significant adverse environmental impact.

Mutimushi said measuring e-waste is an important step towards addressing the e-waste challenges as statistics help to evaluate developments over time, set and assess targets and identify best practices in policies.

“It is my sincere hope that TCH E-Waste will hit the ground running by putting in place a working business model that will not only clean the environment but also create employment by creating a well-defined value chain for e-waste recycling, incorporating all stakeholders,” he said.

At the same event Zambia Environmental Managements Agency – ZEMA Inspector Chrispine Simwanza said the company has fulfilled its regulatory procedures hence suitable to acquire a license adding that a lot of research was done by the Agency before the company could be allowed to handle e-wastes.

Simwanzi has since called for support from various stakeholders and players in the ICT sector towards this initiative to ensure the chain is properly managed stating that mostly waste starts from importation hence the need to regulate the gadgets before entry.

The first ever Zambian Electronic Waste Recycling

Zambia to pay US$14 million next week to Eskom to start power imports – Lungu

The Zambain President Edgar Lungu has announced that government will next week pay US$14 million to add up on the already paid US$ 10 Million towards the importation of power from Eskom of South Africa.

This is after a decision by government to import 300 Mega Watts of power from South Africa of which it is expected to pay US$44 million for the importation.

Speaking when addressing journalists in Lusaka at State House on November 8 2019 attended by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, President Lungu stated that he is aware of the current power deficit in the country and that the lasting solution is to invest more in renewable energy such as Solar.

He has since directed the power utility company ZESCO to conclude the solar project by mid-next year. “The 120MW solar PV project under the Get-Fit programme has six 20MW projects and they will reach commercial operation date in the third quarter of 2020,” he said.

The president further said that the imports of power are a stop-gap measure as the country waits for the coming on board of the 750 MW of power from Kafue Gorge Lower in early March next year adding that the project is at 80 percent completion stage.

The Zambian leader further stated that progress has been made in the energy sector including electricity and petroleum and that governments intention is to enable 100 percent Private Sector importation of fuel and get tariffs for electricity to cost reflective levels.

The Zambain President Edgar Lungu has announced

Butcheries using GMO spices risk being fined

The National Biosafety Authority – NBA has

ZESCO’s proposed tariff hike to rake in K16 billion in revenue

ZESCO Director of Transmission Webster Musonda told the gathering at the public hearing held on 5th November 2019 in Lusaka attended by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT that the proposed tariff adjustment is expected to generate revenue of upto K16.056 billion in the first full year of its implementation.

Musonda who is the acting CEO stated that the proposed upward tariff adjustment is intended to meet future obligations and that it was supposed to be applied at the beginning of the year to cover 2019 costs.

He added that having no tariff adjustment will result in under-investment in the electricity sector, insufficient capacity to support accelerated growth in the economy, Unreliable quality of supply of electricity, perpetual load-shedding, unsustainable electricity supply industry and Higher energy cost among other consequences.

Stakeholders made submissions to the application to adjust the tariff upwards but the general observation was that the majority of the submissions were in opposition to ZESCO’s application to adjust Tariffs. Among the notable organizations which made submissions included Zambia Sugar, Zambia National Farmers Union- ZNFU, Lafarge, ZIPAR and  CUTS among. The event was also simultaneously taking place in two other major Zambian cities of Livingstone and Kitwe.

On 26 February 2019, ZESCO Limited applied to the Energy Regulation Board- ERB to vary electricity tariffs across all customer categories, except Mining and other customers whose supply is governed by Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). In its application, ZESCO proposed to increase electricity tariffs by a total weighted average of 113% in 2019 for Residential, Large Power, Small Power, Commercial and Services Customers.

The ERB invited members of the public to make written submissions in line with the Electricity Act, Cap 433 of the Laws of Zambia. During the review of ZESCO’s Tariff application, ERB Board Chairman Raymond Mpundu said the review comes at a time when the country is experiencing what is perhaps the worst power deficit ever, which is affecting the sub-region as a whole. He added that Climate Change has impacted the sub-region’s power generation capacity, severely because most of the power generation facilities are Hydro-based.

‘‘In line with our tariff determination process, we are taking into account the public submissions on the applications which we have received in writing from consumers and members of the public. This is a particularly fundamental aspect of the tariff review process, as our decision would affect all ZESCO customers whose views must be head before an appropriate tariff is determined,’’ said Mpundu.

The ERB chairman further emphasized that at the public hearing that the board is mindful of the concerns raised by the public regarding the performance of the Utility, especially in light of the upward revised relatively higher tariffs following the 2015 and 2017 Tariff Adjustments which had indicated that the tarrifs would then be cost reflective.

Mpundu therefore, reiterated the board’s commitment to implementing the key performance indicators in tariff determination with a view to equating utility performance to the award of tariff increases. President Edgar Lungu’s press aid has also announced a raft of energy policy amendment approvals by his government which are then expected to be implemented to support power generator diversification to thermal, solar, wind and nuclear.

ZESCO Director of Transmission Webster Musonda told

Afcons accused of slow construction pace

Some motorists in Lusaka city have demanded