‘Prioritise telecoms sector’

RYAN CHIGOCHE

The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) says the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) should prioritise the telecommunications sector in foreign currency allocation as they are set to embark on nationwide  5G network roll out, Business Times can report.

Last week, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, became the first service provider in Zimbabwe to introduce a 5G network.

“The 5G is the nervous system of the digital economy where everything whether biological manufacturing mechanical or chemical will have to be connected somehow anytime with zero delay with almost unlimited capacity,”  POTRAZ director general, Gift Machengete said.

He said 5G needs “serious money” and it is a network which requires a new set of funding. Therefore the sector will need to be prioritised in the allocation of foreign currency.

“I invite the RBZ to pay special attention to the communication sector and actively support 5G roll out to all parts of the country through timeous allocation of foreign currency resources to the sector,” Machengete said.

The development comes at a time when the RBZ has been battling to clear foreign currency backlogs as they have failed to meet the demand for the greenback with the country facing serious foreign currency shortages.

More so, priority was being given mainly to industry as 68% of the total funds allocated in the previous auction with close to nothing allocated to the communications sector.

Machengete added that if they were prioritised in the allocation of foreign currency everyone else will be capitalised as ICTs have been identified as key for the advancement of every sector.

“ICTs are cross-cutting each and every sector will need  ICT for them to move forward so if ICT is capacitated  that will in turn capacitate the other sectors. So it’s a cry from our sector that if we are to move forward with technology really we need foreign currency,” he said.

In 2018, POTRAZ introduced the 5G roadmap where they targeted to introduce 5G technology by the year 2020 but they had to wait for another year as they faced various impediments.

As the regulator, POTRAZ has made spectrum available to eligible operators so as to fast-track the 5G roll out but that alone has not been enough.

As a result POTRAZ has called on the local authorities to also play a key role in enabling operators to roll out 5G all in the interest of national development.

“Local authorities should play a key role in 5G roll out through timeous approval of site acquisitions applications  and affordable rentals. Local authorities charges  for site rentals can easily be the biggest determinant of 5G roll out viability ,In that regard I also appeal to local authorities to makes available special concessions which would see speedy roll out of 5G in the interest of national  development,” Machengete said.5G offers faster speeds and more reliable connections on smartphones and other devices than ever before. 5G offers connections that are multitudes faster than current connections, with average download speeds of around 1GBps expected to soon be the normal.