Peri-urban and rural areas in Zambia are planned to be connected to broadband services by telecommunications firm Zamtel.
The company also intends to invest $4 million to upgrade telecoms infrastructure in Livingstone within the next three months. Zamtel is rolling out optic fibre network in various parts of Livingstone, including Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula International Airport.
Zamtel officials, though, have said that their rural broadband project is expected to include installing 400 high capacity site for 3G and 2G services.
With current internet penetration at just 10%, Zambia’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector is far from making a meaningful contribution to the country’s economic development, according to the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA).
Zambia’s ICT sector has about one million internet users and about seven million phone users, out of as population of 13.2 million.
The country’s internet connectivity is concentrated mainly in urban areas, as traditional internet service providers view rural areas as economically unviable to recoup their investments.
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