Zambia records increased access and use of ICT services

The 2021 Annual Market Performance Report for the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Sector has revealed that there was increased access and utilisation of ICT services in the country in the year under review.

 In particular, the report highlights an increase in the number of active mobile cellular subscriptions from 19.1 million subscriptions in 2020 to 20.2 million subscriptions in 2021 representing an increase of 5.8 percent.

 In a statement, Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) Manager Corporate Communication Hanford Chaaba says ehe total number of active mobile and fixed internet subscriptions increased marginally by 1.3 percent to 10.4 million in 2021 from 10.3 million subscriptions in 2020.

Mr Chaaba says a significant increase in the number of active mobile money subscriptions was also observed during the year, increasing from 8.6 million subscriptions in 2020 to 9.9 million in 2021.

He adds that at the same time, the volume of mobile money transactions increased from 746.5 million to 843.1 million transactions in 2021 representing an annual improvement of 11.7 percent.

Mr Chaaba further states that during the same period, the value of mobile money transactions grew from ZMW 105.6 billion in 2020 to ZMW 169.4 billion in 2021 representing a growth rate of 60 percent.

He states that the Authority forecasts a positive outlook in the general uptake and use of ICT services in 2022 as the number of active mobile network subscriptions is expected to increase from 20.2 million reported at the end of 2021 to 20.9 million subscriptions at the end of 2022 and subsequently 21.2 million in 2023.

Mr Chaaba says in addition, the volume of domestic outgoing mobile voice call minutes is forecasted to increase from 24.4 billion minutes estimated for the end of 2021 to 26.2 billion projected for the year 2022 and could reach 28 billion minutes in 2023.