Press Release: ZICTA press statement on Vodafone Zambia
In light of the rising speculation from the general public and other stakeholders, as evidenced by the numerous enquires that the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) has been receiving recently, the Authority wishes to dispel the perception that Mobile Broadband Zambia Limited Trading As “Vodafone Zambia “is entering the market as a voice provider.
The Authority wishes to reassure members of the Public that it has not issued a licence permitting any entity other than MTN, Airtel and Zamtel to provide voice services to the public. Such a licence is an individual licence which, under the current licensing framework, is issued through a competitive process.
Mobile Broadband Zambia Limited currently only holds the following licenses:
1. A class Network (wireless internet) licence; and
2. A class Service (internet) licence.
These licenses only enable Mobile Broadband Zambia Limited to construct a data network and to provide data services to the Public. Mobile Broadband Zambia Limited is therefore not allowed under the said licences to provide voice services.
Mobile Broadband Zambia Limited’s scope of operations and service offering are therefore strictly limited to the provision of mobile data services and not voice services. Mobile Broadband Zambia was assigned a Mobile Network Code (MNC) for network identification and to facilitate their service offering, but has Not been assigned any subscriber numbers by ZICTA.
Furthermore, Mobile Broadband Zambia Limited Trading as “Vodafone Zambia must not be confused to be “Vodacom” which currently has no licences to operate in Zambia.
We once again wish to reiterate that Mobile Broadband Zambia Limited, is only permitted to provide retail data services to the Zambian market and Mobile Broadband Zambia Limited Trading As “Vodafone Zambia “has been directed to ensure that this must be unequivocally reflected in all aspects of its operations including branding and corporate communications.
Source: ZICTA
Immersing themselves in a conversation, I see. One of the regulators in Zambia with no teeth. At all.
so true and we know it
Why has the entry of Vodafone Zambia created so much anxiety among existing service providers? What is wrong with us having a fourth provider for voice and data? Would that not benefit consumers? Welcome Vodafone with your 4G data service. That will make it easy for you to switch to voice services when the frequencies are advertised.
I tend to agree. There should be no need for the panic if everyone was doing ‘the right thing’. Unfortunately soon to be legacy voice is still being treasured by the regulator and the MNOs. The irony is most of them are preparing for VoLTE because it is a much more efficient way of handling voice traffic. Then what will ‘voice’ be but a data stream?
Well noted atleast these rumours can be put to rest, which parts of the country are they reaching out for Internet services.
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