Telecommunications firms have begun infrastructure sharing, as government works on legislation to smoothen implementation of the policy said to reduce subscribers’ costs.
BY BUSINESS REPORTER
Information and Communication Technology and Courier Services minister Supa Mandiwanzira told the National Assembly on Wednesday that operators were in agreement on the need to share infrastructure and have agreed on regulations that have been sent to the Attorney-General’s Office.
“They are not waiting for the gazetting of this law, but are now in discussion on how best they can collaborate and work together. Telecel and NetOne now share the same towers. Econet and TelOne are already sharing infrastructure. This was accepted by the industry and it is now water under the bridge,” he said.
Mandiwanzira was responding to inquiries from Harare East legislator, Terrence Mukupe on the progress made to ensure operators share infrastructure.
Asked by Zaka MP, Paradzai Chakona whether infrastructure sharing would have an impact on tariffs, Mandiwanzira said companies have been competing unnecessarily with each other to establish infrastructure such as fibre optic cables.
“If you look at Harare and Bulawayo, we have three fibre optic cables and yet one cable can be sufficient for all the data transmission that is required for this country, but we have put resources into one route. Therefore, the sharing infrastructure now means that if a new route is developed, for instance between Harare and Beitbridge, the other investor may look at Harare-Nyamapanda, where service is not yet available,” he said adding the move would broaden the coverage of broadband throughout the country.
Mandiwanzira said Zimbabwe was mandated by Sadc to ensure that 85% of the population has broadband access by 2020.
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“In terms of data costs, once you are sharing infrastructure, it means that you are not loading up the cost of capital on every data package that you are selling because you are sharing with others. Where investment has been done by one company and everybody is sharing, it means that the more users you have, the less expensive it is for the operators,” he said.
“We expect that that cost saving will be extended to the subscribers, who at this point are being overcharged by some of the operators in this country.”
Early this year, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe described government’s directive compelling players in the industry to share infrastructure as tantamount to compulsory acquisition of its infrastructure.
“In our view, it is unfair to compel sharing of infrastructure, where one party does not have the infrastructure that the other needs. That is tantamount to compulsory acquisition of infrastructure from one operator who has chosen to invest in infrastructure, for the benefit of another that chose to invest in other assets that are either not available for sharing, or that we do not need,” Econet said.
The statement stoked fire, with Mandiwanzira hitting back and giving Econet a week to remove its telecommunications equipment and that of its sister company, Liquid Telecomms from State infrastructure.
