The Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) has forced China’s Huawei Technologies to resolve technical issues with rural telecom towers that were constructed for the country’s tower project launched in 2014.

The project involved the construction of 204 telecom towers to improve mobile communication in rural communities, however residents in these regions have complained that the infrastructure has not improved the situation. The Consumer Unity Trust Society (CUTS) subsequently initiated an assessment of the infrastructure to determine the extent of the problem. In January this year, CUTS released a report which revealed that the towers in question did not meet technical or legal requirements. The report said some of the towers fall short of the 5km micro-coverage radius specified by ZICTA in a bid document. The coverage for most of the towers was reported to be 1.63km radius while others covered just 2km. ZICTA director-general Margaret Mudenda was then summoned to appear before lawmakers to explain why the regulator had allowed Huawei Technologies to erect substandard towers when the technical requirements, including reach, were clear. Mudenda told the lawmakers that ZICTA had carried out an audit of the towers which showed that these met the 5km radius requirement in all directions, and that the contractor was also not willing to work on the towers again because they fulfilled all specifications. ZICTA said Huawei Technologies had also refuted claims of sub-standard work and insisted that “it did a good job” - and that the towers were erected to the required standards. However, Zambia’s minister of Communications and Transport Kapembwa Simbao has confirmed that the ICT telecommunications equipment supplier has been made to resolve the problems on 36 of the 204 towers that were faulty after commissioning. He said the rest of the towers were functioning normally. The Zambian government is determined to ensure that remote rural areas have access to communication services and wants quality towers to be erected, Simbao added. “As at the end of last month, Huawei had been to 12 sites to solve the problems affecting the towers,” he said. Huawei Technologies Zambia could not be reached for comment on the matter. While it is unclear as to why the telecommunications firm has done an about-turn on its initial refusal to work further on the towers, lawmakers had directed ZICTA to stop the company from executing the second phase of the project until the issue had been sorted out. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is still investigating the tower project in a bid to establish whether there was corruption involved in the manner the contract was awarded to the company by ZICTA, citing the time the regulator took to take action despite having knowledge that some towers did not meet technical specifications.