Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei has agreed to deploy 5G network infrastructure in Zambia, according to the Southern African country's Minister of Communication and Transport Dr Brian Mushimba.

While the Minister confirmed the telco's commitment to upgrade all sites seamlessly with 5G capability, he would not elaborate on the cost of the project or when it is scheduled to begin.

The project is in the planning stage and more details would be provided once everything has been finalised said Mushimba.

According to the Minister Zambia is positioning innovation at the centre of its digital economy strategy and the country does not want to be left behind when it comes to the adoption of next-generation internet technologies.

"As Zambia, we want to be ready to benefit from the immense opportunities, including big data, that come with 5G. This is why we are moving to upgrade to 5G and our partners Huawei have committed to upgrading all government towers to 5G capability," said Mushimba.

Huawei is currently upgrading all Zamtel towers from 2G, 3G to 4G network countrywide under the government's tower communication construction project.

The project will see over 2, 000 towers constructed by the end of 2019 in order to boost mobile phone communication.

Huawei Technologies Zambia has to date not responded to questions regarding the 5G project.