Mofya Chisala, Support Services Director at the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) has confirmed that the country's fourth mobile phone operator Uzi Zambia will begin operations before year-end.

Chisala said the business will be fully operational and provide services to the public by this time in line with the Authority's target of 100% national connectivity coverage.

Uzi, whose major shareholder is Unitel International Holdings B.V registered in the Netherlands, secured a network licence (valid for 15 years) in March.

ZICTA said Uzi Zambia intents to deploy LTE technology nationally as part of their network which fully support 4G and 5G technologies. It also plans to establish 100 universal access sites across unserved and under-served areas.

According to Chisala the company's initial investment will be US$350 million and it would "create hundreds of jobs for Zambians".

"Our target as ZICTA is to reach 100% coverage so that everyone around the country is able to communicate. Not just that, we want the cost of communication to come down because of the resulting competition. These are the benefits that Uzi will bring into the country," he said.

The Zambian market is currently dominated by MTN Zambia with close to 6 million subscribers, followed by Airtel Zambia with about 5 million customers and Zamtel at the tail end with just 2 million customers.