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By Wallace Mawire.

Harare, Zimbabwe. (News of The South) – Zimbabwe has made tremendous achievements in the establishment of mobile base stations across the whole country with at least 4 600 built by the three major mobile network operators, Cosmas Chigwamba, Principal Director in the Ministry of ICT, Postal and Courier Services said at a recent internet governance conference convened in Harare by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA).

Chigwamba said that the mobile base stations have been established by NetOne, Econet and Telecel.

“This development has boosted the subscriber base thereby increasing the mobile and internet penetration rates,” Chigwamba said.#

According to Chigwamba, the internet penetration rate of the country has grown significantly from 33,4% in 2012 to 47,5% in 2014.He says that the mobile penetration rate has risen to 104%.

Chigwamba said that a robust infrastructure platform is the foundation for universal access and a platform on which all other developmental initiatives stem from.

“The country has witnessed massive deployment of communications infrastructure by state owned enterprises and private sector players such as TelOne, Powertel, Netone, Econet, Telecel, liquid Telecom and Africom,” Chigwamba said.

He also added that his ministry seeks to have a knowledge based society with ubiquitous connectivity by 2020.

Chigwamba added that the ICT industry in Zimbabwe has made significant in-roads into society. He said that prior to 2000, ICT resources and facilities were grossly limited in the country.

“Only very few wealthy Zimbabweans had access to the facilities and services. Internet facilities and services were rare to come by. Public awareness of ICT and its application was low,” Chigwamba said.

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