Revision of Spectrum Annual Assignment Fees

1. BACKGROUND

The Zambia Information and Communications Authority intends to revise Spectrum fees and prescribe fees for new spectrum bands. The Authority has been undertaking consultations on this issue dating back to 2017 with last consultation having been undertaken in 2019.

The current fees came into force in 2010 following the issuance of Statutory Instrument No. 34, The Information and Communication Technologies (Fees) Regulations, 2010.

In 2017, the Authority engaged a consultant, Advanced Topographic Development and Images (ATDI) of France to assess the value of the mobile broadband spectrum, fixed broadband, microwave links and broadcasting spectrum in Zambia and provide, where necessary, proposals for price revision.

Additionally, the Authority carried out a regional spectrum fees benchmark study of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Namibia and South Africa in 2020. The countries were selected for benchmark as they have similar social economy, geographic and demand and supply factors according to the June 2016 Report ‘Zambia ICT Gap Analysis’ submitted to the World Bank. The results of the study indicated that the current spectrum fee charges are well below average and do not reflect the true value of spectrum in Zambia.

Based on the results of the ATDI price review and the benchmark study, the Authority proposed revision of annual fees and consequently conducted a public consultation inviting comments to get views from industry stakeholders and the public. The consultation process was part of a mandatory process under the Business Regulatory Review Authority Act No. 3 of 2014 which requires any public body to undertake a RIA prior to making any changes to the legal and regulatory environment. Various operators and interest groups responded to the publication.

Industry stakeholders raised several concerns regarding impact on consumer prices, quality of services (QoS), investment and network deployment. Consequently, the Authority reviewed the initial proposed fees to considering these industry views and opinions.

1. PROBLEM STATEMENT
   1. Radio frequency spectrum (spectrum) is a high-value limited resource and as such the Government and the people of Zambia should be compensated for its exploitation.  Spectrum is used to convey information wireless from one place to another. According to the findings of the study conducted by ATDI on spectrum fees, the current spectrum fees for Zambia do not reflect the true economic value of the spectrum.
   2. In addition to the fees being charged on existing spectrum bands not being reflective of the true economic value, there are no fees for the newly opened high-value spectrum bands in the 700 MHz and 800 MHz bands for mobile service and 23 GHz band.
   3. The current pricing criteria has the potential to discourage network investment and deployment by charging fees per transmitter rather than per channel. Industry players have raised a similar concern.
   4. Further, the current pricing criteria does not adequately provide for economic and technical factors that drive differentiation in value for frequency bands. For example, the market-driven differentiation in value between FM frequency channels below 90 MHz in the sound broadcasting industry or the difference in value between sub-1 GHz spectrum and the mid-bands due to different propagation characteristics.
   5. The Authority undertook a regional benchmark to ascertain how the prices for spectrum in Zambia compared with those in similar countries, such as Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Bostwana, Zimbabwe and Lesotho.  A benchmark was conducted in these countries as they have similar social, economic, geographic and demand and supply factors according to the June 2016 Report ‘Zambia ICT Gap Analysis’ submitted to the World Bank.

The Authority now wishes to finalize the proposed Spectrum Regulations and invites comments from interested stakeholders.