According to the Ministry of ICT’s strategic plan 2010 to 2014, the Government has a target to increase national tele-density by 10 percent on an annual basis during the period.
However, indications from statistics released in October by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe reveal that Zimbabwe’s tele-density rate stood at around 54 percent up from 37 percent recorded earlier in the year.
The growth has been attributed to an increase subscription to mobile telephony services, as the country’s three mobile telecommunications providers — Econet, Telecel and NetOne — took advantage of the stable currency system and improved access to off-shore funding to expand their networks.
"There has been increase in ICT penetration especially when measured by tele-density. Early this year tele-density was about 37 percent.
"Eight months into the year, it stood at about 54 percent.
"Mobile operators have been increasing their capacities in order to accommodate more subscribers," said Potraz deputy director Mr Alfred Marisa earlier.
The current mobile penetration rate is estimated to be over 60 percent up from 9 percent in 2008, although when contacted Potraz said it was still in the process of compiling data for the full year and therefore could not comment.
The tele-density rate is one of the critical tools used to measure ICT penetration in the country.
However, the apparent growth of the ICT sector as indicated by the percentage improvement in the country’s tele-density rate does not necessarily reflect real improvement in ICT usage on the ground.
The ICT ministry’s four-year strategic plan is mainly aimed at developing an e-governance platform, communication portals, digital archives and community ICT centres among other technology drivers to enhance Zimbabwe’s ICT standing.
Statistics from Potraz also show that ICT growth as measured by Internet users currently stands at a mere 11,3 percent, reflecting an estimated total number of Internet users in the country of 1 410 000.
The huge disparity between ICT penetration as measured by tele-density and ICT penetration as measured by Internet use is probably indicative of the limited extent to which Zimbabwe has adopted the more significant new technologies.
And in that sense its minimal integration in the global information society has put paid to the notion that Zimbabwe is e-ready. The country has so far adopted limited critical ICT infrastructure, for instance, with respect to broadband penetration, capacity expansion and improving speed of connectivity. The country is still a long way in its quest to achieve broad-based ICT utilisation, let alone the establishment of its proposed e-governance platform.
The ICT Ministry has since said that it has finalised drafting of the e-government framework — Zimconnect — a development that would allow expediency in the establishment of the e-government platform.
In line with this, the ministry has said it is working in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture in the setting up of an ICT Government school to equip civil servants with ICT skills. In his 2011 National Budget statement, Minister of Finance Tendai Biti said the Government had allocated US$7,7 million towards supporting the establishment of the country’s communication backbone infrastructure.
According to the ICT Ministry’s strategic plan some if its targets for this year include:
- Increase the national tele-density of Zimbabwe by 10 percent every year;
- Increase the national mobile density of Zimbabwe by 20 percent every year; and
- Increase both the personal computer (PC) penetration rate and Internet connectivity by 20 percent, every year among many others, many of which have been more or less achieved.
However, the majority of these targets for 2010 were largely with respect to the establishment of a national ICT policy framework as well as complementary strategies.
The Government now needs to ramp up establishment of the requisite ICT infrastructure.
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Quelle/Source: The Herald, 21.12.2010
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