Navigating the Impact of Loadshedding on Zambia’s Telecommunications Sector

The Telecommunications sector is one of Zambia’s key economic enablers for sustained business
growth and social development.

As the Global System for Mobile Communication Association of Zambia (GSMAZ) one of our main objectives is to engage openly with customers and stakeholders in a bid to address any concerns raised as we endeavor to showcase our commitment in adhering to responsible business practices. 

Zambia is going through the worst climate change effects ever experienced in the last 60 years of its independence and everyone has been impacted in one way or another at both individual level as well as institution and sector level.

The Telecommunications sector has also been negatively affected by the current prolonged loadshedding that the country is facing. 

The majority of the over 3500 towers (sites) combined (MTN, ZAMTEL and AIRTEL) that we have are connected to the National Grid. Though backup power is available at these sites through generators, instances when there is electricity downtime, and extended loadshedding hours, our provision of quality of service is compromised as the generators now require constant refueling and more frequent servicing cycles.  

The power backup at the telecom sites is generally designed to last up to a maximum of 4 hours, however owing to current unprecedented 13 to 14 hours of daily load shedding, there is a huge cost variance not only for the fuel and generator maintenance but also for the associated fuel delivery logistics for the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).

We are currently working with our tower partners, our regulators and other stakeholders to find lasting solutions that will cushion the current predicament that our sector is facing with the goal of reducing the downtime that customers are experiencing.

For the medium to long-term resolutions, we are beginning to deploy solar system backup power solutions. In the interim we will continue to rely on the existing power back-up solutions.

We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience this is causing and would like to assure our customers of our continued commitment to providing good quality of service. We are confident that our Nation and all other sectors shall rise above the current challenges.

Issued by GSMAZ Corporate Communications