eBusiness Weekly
Business Writers
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe will have to prioritise allotting foreign currency to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) related companies if the country is to move forward in technology, Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) Director General Dr Gift Machengete has said.
Speaking at the launch of the country’s first Fifth Generation (5G) mobile broadband technology by Econet in Harare yesterday, Dr Machengete said funding is key for 5G roll out and this can only be done if the sector is prioritised for foreign currency allotments.
“5G needs money, it is a network that requires a new set of funding, serious funding for that matter, which brings us to foreign currency.
The sector will need to be prioritised, in the allocation of foreign currency, and on this note I invite our colleagues from the RBZ to pay special attention to the communication sector, and actively support 5G roll-out through timeous allocation of foreign currency resources to the sector, since all sectors will require ICT to move forward, said Dr Machengete.
Econet, through chief operating officer, Kezito Makuni, is on record saying difficulties in accessing foreign currency to fund its network expansion projects, upgrade its existing infrastructure to improve quality of service and pay recurrent service licence fees to foreign suppliers, remains the industry’s greatest challenge.
Speaking during a tour of the company’s Msasa head office in Harare by the ICT Parliamentary Portfolio Committee in November last year, Makuni said constraints around foreign currency availability continued to be the biggest challenge bedevilling the industry and Econet.
“Our capital and operational costs — from investment in infrastructure and network upgrades to systems support services and software licences – all require foreign currency, and we have not had much success in getting forex from the auction system,” said Makuni.
Dr Machengete, who was the guest of honour at the launch event, noted that for the country to enjoy the full benefits of 5G — which include e-Health, smart transport and logistics, smart energy networks, smart agriculture and smart retail — the telecommunications sector will require foreign currency support for network expansion and to procure critical core network software.
“Because 5G will be an overlay network, requiring a new cycle of network rollout with demand for funding in forex, the sector will need to be prioritised in the allocation of foreign currency,” he said.
He said the 5G technology is the nervous system of the digital economy, where everything whether biological, mechanical or chemical will have to be connected somehow, anywhere, anytime, with zero delay and almost unlimited capacity.
Econet CEO, Dr Douglas Mboweni, said the 5G rollout was an important milestone for the company, and was a critical enabler for Zimbabwe’s drive towards a fully digital economy.
“The 5G technology will transform the way we all live and work, offering customers significantly greater network capacity, ultra-low latency and super-fast broadband speeds that open vast possibilities for our individual, business and enterprise customers,” he said.
The new technology will yield far higher speeds — up to 100 times faster than earlier broadband technologies.
Also speaking at the launch of the service, Makuni, said the launch of 5G will allow the company to meet growing demand for data and complement its growing 4G nework, boosting overall mobile connectivity for Econet customers.
“Our 5G network will offer new use cases while at the same time helping us meet existing demand for mobile broadband services,” Makuni said.
