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.
