Zambia could issue a fifth mobile licence, according to new reports.
The director general of the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA), Patrick Mutimunshi, was quoted in ITWeb Africa as saying: “There is still the possibility of us accommodating a fifth operator that can still be able to make profit because at the end of the day, the operations must be sustainable.”
He noted that the regulator’s priority was to ensure competition in the market, saying: “The new licensing regime that we have has opened up the market for anyone to come in the country and invest.”
The news outlet also indicates that the government has conducted an analysis of the market which concluded that a fifth operator would not impact profitability in the wireless sector. With rates for voice and data services currently high, the government is reportedly keen to push down prices by introducing greater competition.
