The World Bank has pledged US$100 million to fund a new project that promises to speed up development of Zambia’s digital infrastructure and narrow the digital divide.
According to a Facebook post from Zambia’s Ministry of Technology and Science on Friday, the Digital Zambia Acceleration Project (DZAP) was formally announced by World Bank MD and chief administration officer Zhang Wengcai during a visit with Technology and Science Minister Felix Chipota Mutati in Lusaka.
The US$100 million DZAP project aims to increase access to the internet and digital services. While the announcement was light on details, Zhang said the project is “aligned with the government priorities and will focus on expanding broadband and last mile infrastructure and services and deploying digital public infrastructure to enhance efficiencies in both public and private sectors.”
Zhang also said DZAP will support digitalization in selected “high-impact sectors including nurturing employment-ready digital skills.”
The World Bank will finance DZAP via a combination of national and regional International Development Association (IDA) funds, plus US$20m in unguaranteed commercial financing to Zambia.
The project still needs to be approved by the World Bank Board, which Zhang said will happen in March 2025.
In the meantime, he said, the World Bank is processing a Project Preparation Advance of US$6 million to finance activities during DZAP’s preparation phase.
Zhang also said a project implementation unit will be established and operated within the Smart Zambia Institute to “spearhead cross-cutting government digitization initiatives.”
While mobile phones are ubiquitous in Zambia, around 40% of the country remains unconnected to the internet. According to the most recent stats from the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA), Zambia had 21.1 million active mobile subscriptions in 2023, which works out to a penetration rate of 107.6%. Of those, 12.5 million are mobile internet users, or about 60% of the population. Only around 99,000 people have fixed broadband subscriptions.
Digital infrastructure is just one of several challenges to Zambia’s digitalisation ambitions. Mobile operators say they are struggling to cope with load shedding blackouts initiated by state-owned power utility ZESCO that now last as long as 14 hours a day. The Global System for Mobile Association of Zambia (GSMAZ) – which comprises MTN Zambia, Airtel Zambia and Zamtel – says that’s taking a toll on service quality as their backup generators for cell sites require constant refuelling and more frequent servicing cycles.