The Government of Zimbabwe is working on legislation that will allow the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority(POTRAZ) to issue converging licenses to telecommunications operators to diversify operations and also force them to share infrastructure under new licenses to be issued mid-year.
An official from the Transport, Communication and Infrastructural Development ministry said the remodeling of the Postal and Telecommunications Act would be completed by June this year to allow POTRAZ to issue the new licenses.
Current licenses from Econet and Telecel will expire in June this year therefore the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe will issue converging licenses to allow them to diversify their services.
The amended act would include the compulsory sharing of infrastructure between operators to reduce operating costs and also tariffs.
According to James Madya, a deputy director in the ministry, Licenses are about to expire and because of technological changes that are happening in the industry we cannot continue to issue operators with the old license which only allowed an operator to work within the stipulations of that license. The new license would allow operators to diversify their products.
He said that when Econet and Telecel renew their licenses, they would get the new converging licenses and offer diverse products that are not covered in their current licenses.
