10 May 2021

Beeline Telecom has been granted a licence to commence mobile phone operations in Zambia.

The operator will be required to commence operation within the next six months and failure to which, unless determined otherwise by the Zambian Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA), the licence will be revoked.

“This was in line with its regulatory mandate under the ICT ACT No. 15 of 2009, which includes the promotion of competition in the ICT sector,” said Patrick Mutimushi, director general of ZICTA. “In September, 2020, the watchdog invited, through the request for proposals, applications for a network license under the international market segment and a service licence under the national market segment with associated resources.”

Currently, Zambia’s mobile service operators include South African telecoms MTN, Airtel and local telecom firm Zamtel. The local company has been offered the international network and national services licences with associated resources and becomes the fourth mobile network services provider in the country. 

Meanwhile, the number of active mobile subscriptions in Zambia increased by 10.9% to 19.1 million on  December 31 2020 from 17.2 million on the same date in 2019, according to statistics from ZICTA