By Mulenga M. Chisanga –Acting Director, Economic

Regulations Department

COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY, ZAMBIA (CAZ)

Mulungushi International Conference20th -22nd May 2009, Lusaka Zambia

Presentation Outline1. Zambia in general

2. The Telecommunications Act vis-à-vis Universal Service

3. National ICT Policy

4. Universal Service Development Fund

5. Implementation of Universal Service

6. Projects Undertaken under Universal Service

7. Other UAS Projects at Inception Phase

8. Constraints Faced in Implementing UService Progms.

9. Universal Service -Way forward

Zambia in general

Zambia is a landlocked country with a total surface area of 752618 square kilometres

The country has an estimated population of about 11, 900, 000

The nominal GDP for Zambia:- Total -US$ 14.323 billion Per capita -US$ 1, 150

The ICTs penetration rate as at 31st December 2008:-

Mobile - 26.95 per 100 inhabitants

Internet -0.152 per 100 inhabitants

PSTN -0.761 per 100 inhabitants

Zambia in general contld

GSM Coverage 72 out of 73 districts are

covered by GSM In terms of surface coverage

about 70% of the country has GSM coverage as indicated in the map

A majority of the uncovered areas are national parks and mountainous regions

Subscription - 2008 Mobile -3,539,003 Fixed Network -90, 600 Internet -18,289

The Telecoms Act vis-à-vis Universal Service

Section 5 (2) (a) of the Telecommunications Act provides as part of the Authority’s functions

“to take all reasonable steps to extend the provision, throughout all urban and rural areas of Zambia, of such telecommunication services as satisfy all reasonable demands for them including, in particular, emergency services, public call box services, directory information services and maritime services.”

Based on this functionality, the Communications Authority is mandated to implement Universal Service in Zambia. 

National ICT Policy Zambia came up with a National ICT Policy in April 2006

The ICT Policy designed on thirteen pillars:

i. Human Resource Developmentii. Agricultureiii. Tourism, Environment & National Resourcesiv. Education v. Healthvi. E-Commercevii. E-Governmentviii. Youth and Womenix. Legal &Regulatory Frameworkx. Security in Information Societyxi. Access, Media, Content & Culturexii. ICT Services xiii. Telecommunications Infrastructure

National ICT Policy -Continued

In the ICT Policy Universal Service is supported under thirteenth pillar: Developing Telecommunication & Supporting Infrastructure.

The policy goal under this pillar is to increase access and promote widespread deployment of ICT services through expansion of national telecoms back infrastructure .

In order to attain this, the Government of the Republic of Zambia has committed itself in the ICT Policy to the following:

1. Facilitate the development and deployment of a telecommunication infrastructure backbone with regional and international connectivity through Public-Private Partnerships to offer reliable, high capacity and nationwide service to data, voice and video service providers in the retail market;

National ICT Policy -Continued

2. Require all licensed service providers (telecommunications (voice, data, video), Internet Service Providers etc) operating a national/regional license to submit development/expansion/roll-out plans as part of the licensing framework;

3. Facilitate the establishment of a Rural ICT Development Fund to support the development of ICT infrastructure and service rollout especially in rural and underserved areas;

Universal Service Development Fund

Based on government’s commitment as regards developing telecommunication & supporting Infrastructure, CAZ has since established a Universal Access Fund.

CAZ raises money for the fund through annual license fees remittance from license operators.

Currently CAZ retains 10% of its revenue from annual licensing fee as part of Universal Service Development Fund

Implementation of Universal Service

On 22nd December 2008, the Board of Regulators of CAZ passed a resolution to operationalise the Universal Service Development Fund and implement the Universal Access Programme (UAP).

Amongst the issues resolved by the Board of Regulators were:

1. Guidelines on disbursement of public funds under the Universal Access Programme;

2. Project identification and Project proposal evaluation for funding under Universal Access Programme.

Implementation of Universal Service contld

As a starting point towards implementation of Universal Service, a Universal Access Team comprising of staff within CAZ ranks with varying professional specialisations i.e. Engineering, Economics & Research, Accounting, Legal, Licensing and Procurement .

The team was tasked to come with guidelines on the disbursement of funds under UAP as well as project identification.

The UA Team was expected to be a liaison on behalf of CAZ between the regulator and licensed operators as regards identification un-serviced and underserved area as well as costing of ICT infrastructure to be deployed under UAP.

Implementation of Universal Service contld

Disbursement Guideline:

i. The UA Team through a series of consultations with operators resolved that disbursement of funds under UAP will not be done through CASH to operators but rather through installation of the necessarily ICT equipment.

ii. Since public funds will be used to fund the deployment of ICTs in rural and underserved areas, the UA Team decided to involve the public procurement authority , ZPPA to handle tenders for ICT equipment to be deployed under UAP.

Implementation of Universal Service contld Phasing of Deployment:

i. Due to budgetary allocation and deployment prioritisation, the UA Team has decided to phase deployment of ICT infrastructure under UAP into two phases.

ii. Under the first phase, CAZ will deploy ICT infrastructure in rural and unserved areas of Zambia, whilst phase two of the UAP will be done in underserved areas. Deployment will be done on a yearly basis in view of budgetary allocation under the fund.

iii. To ensure that all licensed operators in the ICT industry benefits, underserved and unserved identified areas for deployment will allocated to operators according to their internet network expansion preference.

iv.CAZ has decided to make an offer to operators for areas not currently preferred but are unserved to ensure that all areas are covered under UAP

Projects Undertaken under UAP

Amongst the projects that were identified by CAZ under UAP are:

i. Establishment of Multi-purpose Community Telecentre (MCTs) semi-urban & rural areas.

ii. Establishment of Points of Presence (PoPs) for internet connectivity in unserved and under-served areas of the country.

iii. Installation of GSM sharable infrastructure i.e. Base Stations towers /masts in areas lacking GSM Coverage in Zambia.

iv. Establishment of an ICT School of Excellence in Zambia.

v. LinKNet Multi-purpose Community Telecentre Project (3 projects)

Projects Undertaken under UAP contld Progress on the MCT Project

i. Establishing of MCTs : An advert was ran in the public media by CAZ for societies or communities wishing to benefit from a grant under this project to express interest. Out of the initial applications received, seven areas were identified for establishment of MCT under the first phase of the project.

ii. Feasibility study of the areas were conducted by the team i.e. to access the suitability of a place and as well as MCT sustainability. The UA Team also came up with Terms of Reference, did a draft contract and sent them to successful applicants together with a letter of offer.

iii.Tenders for the ICT equipment and other office equipment as well as furniture were done and the tender will be closing this week.

iv.CAZ has decided to increase the number of beneficiaries under the MCT Project to more than seven on the basis that ITU has decided to co-sponsor the project.

v. CAZ intends to deliver , install and commission MCTs in the identified areas by the end of September 2009, however, the UA Team will continue to monitor the performance of the MCTs to ensure sustainability of operations as highlighted in the TORs.

Projects Undertaken under UAP contld

Progress on the PoP Project:

i. With cooperation of ISPs, CAZ has so far managed to identify 47 districts within Zambia lacking internet connectivity. 8 districts out of the 47 has completely no form of internet connection and have been prioritised for deployment of PoPs.

ii. Tender document for PoP equipment are currently being done and allocation of the areas by CAZ for PoPs were done on the basis of preference.

iii.CAZ is yet to finalise the offer made to ISPs as regards underserved areas which were not preferred.

iv.A budget allocation for PoPs was done by UA Team and management of CAZ will be required to make available the funds for implementation of the project.

v. CAZ hopes to finish the first phase of this project by the end of October this year according to the project timelines.

vi.The project will be on-going and CAZ intends to install at least seven PoPs EACH year until all the indentified areas are covered, changes in ICT technologies has been incorporated into the project and the infrastructure will sharable to ensure level playing field.

Projects Undertaken under UAP contld

Progress on the GSM Towers Project:

i. With assistance of the three mobile operators namely; Zain , MTN and Cell Z/Zamtel were able to identify areas lacking GSM coverage in Zambia. Geographical Information System together with geo-marketing results i.e. soci0-economic indicators and other indicators were used to identify areas for ICT deployment in terms GSM coverage.

ii. CAZ intends to install sharable infrastructure to ensure that no operator is left out and encourage competition.

iii.Tender document for GSM sharable equipment is currently being done and the UA Team has already identified areas to benefit under UAP in 2009 due budgetary limitations. Management of CAZ will be required to make available the funds for implementation of the project.

iv.CAZ hopes to finish the first phase of this project by the end of December this year according to the project timelines.

v. The project will be on-going until Zambia attains almost 100% coverage .

Projects Undertaken under UAP contld

Progress on the LinkNet Project:

This is a project involving the replication of Multi-purpose Community Telecentre of Macha area in Choma, Southern Province to other indentified parts of Zambia. The total cost of the project is ZMK 1 billion of which ZMK 330 million has been disbursed to LinkNet to establish similar MCTs in Chilonga, Northern Province, Kalene in North-Western Province and Milinga in Eastern Province.

To this effect the Communications Authority signed a Memorandum of Understanding with LinkNet on Thursday, 16th April, 2009. The remaining monies under this project will be paid once other beneficiary areas have been identified by LinkNet and the Communications Authority. Under this project a private internet network will be created in the community using point to point wireless transmission.

Other UAS Projects at Inception Phase1. Promoting ICT accessibility to Persons With Disabilities

(PWDs)? We hope to work hand in hand with the Ministry of Education by

equipping all colleges for the blind. The project will involve providing computers and internet connectivity and training of at least one lecturer who will in turn be training the students.

2. ICT accessibility to Sec. Schools located in rural and un-served Areas?

We hope to equip at least two (2) secondary schools from each province in terms of ICT equipment and training of at least one teacher from each school. This will be done in conjunction with the MoE.

3. Construction of ICT School of excellence in Zambia? In order to ensure that the benefit to be accrued from the

deployment of ICTs under UAP are not eroded, the Communications Authority in the foreseeable future intends to finance the construction of ICT School of excellence in Zambia.

Constraints Faced in Implementing US Progms1. Lack of Legal Framework

The ICT Draft Bill which has a clear legal framework for the establishment of the Universal Access Fund is not yet enacted into law. The Bill will give further direction to the Fund’s implementation.

2. Staffing Levels Currently, the UAS program does not have dedicated

personnel of its own but relies on staff from other units. This leads to delays and suffering of their own workloads.

3. Project Management Capacity Some of the project team members are not adequately

trained in project management leading to delays.

4. Pressure from Stakeholders Key stakeholders such as politicians and service providers

have been making demands to prioritise their projects.

Way Forward –Universal Service

Financial Support from donors and cooperating partners UA & Service programme requires huge amount of financial

resources hence the need for support

Capacity building Support There is need for technical support from donors and ITU in the

implementation of UAPs especially regarding training

Increased Cooperation with Other Regulators Implementing UAPs This could improve the types and way of implementing UAPs.

Cooperation with Key Stakeholders (through consultation) This has the potential to reduce conflicts and accelerate the

implementation of projects21

THE END

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION