Zambia has attracted investments in excess of 54 million United States dollars in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector.
Technology and Science Minister Hon. Felix Mutati says the investment has come in following government’s decision to waive taxes on importation of ICT equipment.
Mr. Mutati says government took the decision to waive the taxes in order to open up the ICT sector and promote private sector involvement.
Speaking when a delegation from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) paid a courtesy call on him at Maxwell House in Lusaka, Mr. Mutati said digital Infrastructure in the country has even increased.
He revealed that Starlink, which came in last year with 100 kits, has now increased to 11 thousand kits which has taken digital connectivity to a higher level.
Mr. Mutati revealed that by next month, Zambia will be connected by optic fibre to all of its eight neighbouring countries.
Mr. Mutati said Zambia has completed connecting itself to Angola by optic fibre and the next target is Mozambique.
He also revealed that the decision by his Ministry to reduce courier fees has seen the entry of many courier companies in the business.
Mr. Mutati says from an initial 40 companies, now the business is being carried out by over 120 companies who courier by motorcycles.
Meanwhile, Mr. Mutati has revealed that 379 communication towers will be constructed countrywide to increase access to phone network.
And COMESA Director for Information and Communication Technology Lanka Dorby said the delegation is in the country with a consultant to asses Zambia on the possibility of setting up the Cloud Africa Ecosystem.
Ms. Dorby says Zambia is among 10 African countries which are high performers in the ICT sector and are being assessed with the possibility of hosting the cloud headquarters.
She said the Cloud Africa Ecosystem will host African data and help Industry with latest information.
Ms. Dorby said COMESA, with funding from the African Development Bank, will set up the headquarters of the Cloud Africa Ecosystem in one country and a back up data center in another country.
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