Mobile operator, Airtel Zambia has commissioned 131 sharable towers under the Universal Access Network Rollout Project, a Zambian government-supported initiative aimed at expanding communication across the country, especially to rural areas.
This is a result of the partnership between Airtel Zambia and the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA), the country's telecoms sector regulator.
All operators in the country will use the towers and, in turn, Airtel and ZICTA will collect revenue from them.
The Project aims to see mobile phone services rolled out to remote rural areas to ease communication problems.
Airtel Zambia MD Fayaz King says rural communities will remain top of the company's agenda as it develops a state-of-the-art network.
By the end of November and within the first week of December, 131 sites were commissioned under the Project, supported by the government through the Ministry of Works, Supply, Transport and Communications, according to King.
“The recent release of 3G spectrum by Zesco will also enable Airtel [to] plan and deploy the 3G services, which will result in improved services,” says King.
The release of the spectrum by Zesco will result in improved speed for data services, although the release has taken a long time and has hindered the availability of a stable data platform, says King.
Tower sharing allows even small operators, which may not have enough capital to invest in network expansion, to enlarge their networks and compete with bigger operators. The sharing of towers in Zambia is, however, expected to ignite competition among the country's three operators, which are all promising to almost double their subscriber numbers as they push their networks into unchartered waters.
In addition to the high cost of erecting communication towers, access to power on the national grid has, over the years, been a major challenge hindering the rollout of mobile networks in many parts of the country, as running base stations using diesel is expensive.
But this challenge is being addressed, as the Zambian government has embarked on a rural electrification programme aimed at connecting most rural areas to the national grid.
In addition, MTN Zambia, the country's second-largest mobile operator by subscription numbers and investment, after Airtel, is launching solar sites in the country to provide efficient telecommunications services to people living in rural areas.
MTN has also promised to accelerate the rollout of its network to rural areas in order to deliver on 'promised quality and affordable' communications services. Currently, MTN is still Zambia's most reliable and affordable mobile service provider.
The initiative by MTN to go green aims at reducing dependency on erratic power supply and diesel backup power, which comes at huge financial costs to companies, and ensuring communication in rural areas is not disturbed.
The commissioned towers by Airtel will not only be used for mobile phone communication, but also for television and radio signal transmission by television and radio stations.
In Zambia, as in many African countries, mobile operators have refused to expand their networks to rural areas, claiming low returns on their investments because of the high cost involved in importing telecoms equipment, and the cost of running base stations.
However, ZICTA is stepping up efforts to bring mobile communication to many remote rural areas by erecting the sharable telecoms towers.
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