Grace Ashiru
Airtel Zambia has said that it has bought 60MHz of additional spectrum in the 800MHz and 2600MHz bands from the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) for a total of $29 million, paid in Zambian Kwacha.
Airtel Zambia said that it bought 60MHz of additional spectrum in the 800MHz and 2600MHz bands from the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) for a total of $29 million in Zambian Kwacha.
Due to high demand, ZICTA told the public in August that it had changed the 5G Spectrum Roadmap to release spectrum in the 700MHz and 2600MHz bands.
The regulator moved up the release dates for the spectrum bands. The spectrum in the 700MHz band (703-733MHz paired with 758-788MHz) was supposed to be released in the first quarter of 2023, but it came out in the third quarter of 2022. The remaining 40MHz spectrum in the 2600MHz band (2550 to 2590MHz) also came out in the third quarter of 2022.
ZICTA also said that spectrum in the 26 GHz band would be available for assignment on a first-come, first-served basis in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The regulator says that the update to the roadmap is one of the urgent steps to improve competition in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector, encourage investments, speed up the delivery of services to underserved and unserved areas, and improve the quality of electronic communication services for consumers in the country.
