The Zambian government has finally reduced its international gateway license fee from US$12 million to $350,000 in a bid to attract international investment in the country’s telecom sector and reduce the high cost of communications.
The new gateway license fee puts Zambia at the same level as other countries in the region including Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, which are experiencing massive investment in the telecom sector. International gateway fees are $214, 000 in Kenya and $50,000 in Uganda.
Private mobile operators in Zambia and other telecom sector stakeholders — including Zain, the World Bank, and the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). — had been expressing concern at the high cost of doing business in Zambia.
The decision to lower gateway fees comes in the wake of the government sale of Zamtel, which controlled the gateway and charged private operators high fees for its satellite system. Zamtel has been sold to Libya’s LAP Green Networks in a bid by the Zambian government to level the playing ground in international call services.
“The move by the Zambian government would enhance the performance of the telecom sector because high tariffs put pressure on customers’ pockets,” said Walter Tapfumanei, communications officer for Africa Agency for ICT Development.
Despite the reduction in international connection fees, the high user tariffs are not expected to decrease anytime soon, since the Zambian government has not come up with a law to govern the use of the gateways. Service providers are still using the old tariffs for international calls as they wait for the enactment of the new law that the Zambian government has drafted to guide service providers on the use of the gateways. The new law is yet to be presented to Parliament for approval, which might take months.
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Good Move. This will bring in more investment in the Telecoms sector.
This is like reducing the price of sugar and selling it at the old price until the old stock is sold out,’ which could take months’
So what happens if a new player comes on the market with new stocks of sugar and starts selling it at a new cheaper price, what will the other players with old stocks do? The government should have provided this legislation before reducing this gateway license fee.
Well done working government which listerns to the business concerns . Telco companies must not over charge our people ,we shall monitor you closely.
Very long overdue, well done Gov! WE are a step in the right direction, now lets see those tariffs drop!!
This is a move by government to enable LAP Green operate profitably since RB, Dora and RB’s sons and part of the deal. Why didn’t they reduce before ZAMTEL was privatised?
LT has a funny way of posting stories on there site, this Story was carried by The Post of 12th June 2010 were Kavindele was complaining that this is a conspiracy and will Give LAP Green an Advantage over the Private Operators, we should also remember that Govt has barred a fourth Mobile Operator until 2015 so what investments are they talking about? the only positive thing am seeing from this move is that charges for communication will be a lil bit lower and than that we are all being taken for a ride and people are pocketing Billions over the LAP Green deal.
How was Zamtel making loses?
this is stu pi dit and fooling zambians….just bcoz they have made a crooked deal they want us even to sacrifice the gate way…was that really the true price of zamtel or it was more behind our backs and someone promised to top up by reducing on the price of the gateway? zambians wake up, when
Just the other day, MTN director was saying that Zambians will see a reduction of ~40% on international calls withing weeks of their acquiring the International Gateway. We are yet to see that.
#6, RED Barret, They didn’t reduce because Zamtel needed the money from Gateway user fees. It was for the benefit of Zamtel which would have collapsed a long time ago.
Mwaumfwa ba tata ba Red Barret. Please try to comment on things you understand.
#7 Crankshaft, You say “a lot of people have pocketed Billions over the Lap Green Deal.” This is a very serious statement to make. A friend, I respect a great deal was involved in the negotiations and did not make one ngwee from the deal whatsoever. I would not like to see Zambians to get into the habit of using the anonimity of the internet to tell lies and libel people. It is simply immoral. As for you Crankshaft, I challenge you to reveal the names of the people who have made billions so that the people can recover this money in court.
We shall not see any improvement in the tariff rates by the mobile operators. All this is being done to make life very easy for Lap Green and this will not benefit the ordinary Zambian
Red barret, the Government had announced in 2009 that they would reduce the gate way charge. Then you should also note that ZAMTEL was benefiiting from the high charge as they were the only one with an international gate way license which i dont think they were paying for it. Now that the price has reduced it is likely that other telecommunication companies will but licenses so this kind of levels the playing field
#12 Ba Nkole mukulu. Does your friend you respect also support the manner in which the deal was handled. It doesnt mean all is well if SOMEONE ‘you’ respect was part of the negotiations. And what makes you so sure that he/she didnt get a cent out this. Are you his/her bank manager or Financial adviser. We dont need glasses to see that some or all the people involved in that deal got kick back. The simple question is, How was RP CAPITAL appointed on that transaction? Ba Nkole this is not about individuals but our national ASSET.
good, make sure you tell us when they actually pass the law as well please LT