Zambia's Minister of Communications and Transport Brian Mushimba officially signed into law a new licensing framework for the country's telecommunications industry.

The framework, formulated in conjunction with the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA), is expected to realign the country's telecom sector and facilitate the introduction of new operators.

The sector has been dominated by MTN Zambia, Airtel Zambia and state- owned Zamtel.

Until now, the country's government has refused to review the licensing framework and allow more competition.

Authorities have rather urged the three existing operators to become innovative and compete among themselves - on condition that they bring down the high cost of communication.

However this approach has changed as a result of ongoing poor service delivery and the high cost of communication, and the government now wants to usher in competition in the hope that this will reduce the cost of communication and improve service delivery.

"It is our hope that the introduction of convergence licensing framework for licensing of existing and new entrants in the ICT sector in Zambia will help to make the market competitive through better services and increased investments in network expansions and coverage," Mushimba said.

According to Mushimba, the new licensing regime allows an operator of data services to acquire the necessary permit to delve into Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) which, until now, has been illegal.

The Minister also said all ISPs could serve as operators and can make voice calls "in a regulated and optimised market."

Zambia's mobile market has 12 million subscribers out of a population of 15 million people.

MTN Zambia has the largest share of the market with close to 6 million subscribers followed by Airtel Zambia and Zamtel with close to 2 million customers.