The Ministry of Science and Technology has disclosed that the commencement of operation for Zambia’s 4th mobile network operator which had been extended to 30th June 2022 as earlier announced by ZICTA for Beeline Telecoms has been further extended to January 2023.
This is a follows an earlier article published by the Zambian Business Times –ZBT, where the Zambia Consumer Association – ZACA expressed concern over the continued delay and soft stance by state ICT regulator ZICTA to give Zambian consumers a 4th mobile phone operator which has now by passed the expected timelines.
Speaking in an exclusive interview during an ongoing Agriculture and Commercial show, Ministry of Technology Permanent Secretary Brilliant Habeenzu said Beeline stated to ZICTA that they were not going to make the first call according to the initial time table due to a number of reasons.
He said according to the information the ministry received from ZICTA, Beeline attributed among other challenges associated with the COVID 19 pandemic. He said ZICTA – ICT the regulator understood the circumstances hence revising the date for commencement of operation.
Habeenzu could however not tell the actual revised date of January when Beeline is expected to make the first call. Efforts to engage Beeline directly proved futile as the company contact details or physical set up office could not be found by ZBT.
The Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority – ZICTA – had in 2021 indicated that it had granted a local firm Beeline Telecom Limited a license to commence mobile phone operations in the country within the period of 6 months. This timeline was extended and a new deadline was given to Beeline to commence operations by 30th June 2022, and this has also not materialized.
Habeenzu was certain that ZICTA analysed the situation and had a lot of issues which they considered before arriving to that extension stating that ZICTA was in a better position to give more details. But consumers in zambia have been calling for the market to have more options but the country has failed to attract credible global operators.
