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Internet in Zimbabwe - Wikipedia

The Internet in Zimbabwe has rapidly expanded, with around 40% of the population using it as of 2014, primarily through mobile devices. The government has implemented strict regulations and surveillance measures, including the Post and Telecommunications Act, which allows monitoring of email traffic. Major ISPs include Liquid Telecom, TelOne, and YoAfrica, with the regulatory environment being overseen by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ).

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28 views19 pages

Internet in Zimbabwe - Wikipedia

The Internet in Zimbabwe has rapidly expanded, with around 40% of the population using it as of 2014, primarily through mobile devices. The government has implemented strict regulations and surveillance measures, including the Post and Telecommunications Act, which allows monitoring of email traffic. Major ISPs include Liquid Telecom, TelOne, and YoAfrica, with the regulatory environment being overseen by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ).

Uploaded by

Qinisela Qinisela
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Internet in

Zimbabwe

The Internet in Zimbabwe has seen rapid


expansion in recent years. The Internet
country code top-level domain is .zw. In
2009, the Mugabe-Tsvangirai Government
of National Unity established a Ministry
of Information and Communications
Technology to focus on ICT growth and
development.[1]
History of the Internet in
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe's first internet service provider
(ISP), Data Control & Systems, was
established in 1994.[2] In 1997, the
national Posts and Telecommunication
Corporation (PTC) built a national
Internet backbone to sell bandwidth to
private ISPs.[2] The Postal and
Telecommunications Regulatory
Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ)
oversees ISP licensing.[3][4] As of 2009,
licenses cost US$2–4 million, depending
on the level of service the ISP wished to
provide, plus 3.5 percent of the ISP's
annual gross income.[3] The most recent
membership list on the Zimbabwe
Internet Service Providers Association
(ZISPA) web site, last updated in 2007,
comprises 28 ISPs.[5]

Statistics
Approximately 40 percent (5.2 million) of
Zimbabwe's population were internet
users as of January 2014.[6] This
contrasts with 15.7 percent in 2011[7] and
0.4 percent in the year 2000.[7] Most of
the users (5.16 million) access internet
via mobile devices.
Operators
Liquid Telcom, a subsidiary of Econet
Wireless, is the leading internet player in
Zimbabwe. Their local fibre network is
the largest in the country[8] and since
early 2013 they also operate the largest
fibre network in Africa.[9] Liquid's pan-
African fibre network stretches across
nine countries (South Africa, Zimbabwe,
Kenya, Lesotho, Botswana, Zambia, DRC,
Rwanda, and Uganda).

As of 2011, Zimbabwe's largest ISPs


were YoAfrica and Zimbabwe Online
(ZOL).[10] Government-owned
communications company TelOne is
another major ISP; it provides bandwidth
to most other ISPs in the country. TelOne
has been plagued by financial and
infrastructure problems.[3] GISP, an ISP
operating since 1998, provides internet
services to the government and to
parastatal organizations.[11][12]

Legal and regulatory


framework
The Post and Telecommunications Act of
2000 allows the government to monitor
e-mail usage and requires ISPs to supply
information to government officials when
requested. The Supreme Court, however,
ruled in 2004 that the sections of the law
that permit monitoring violated the
constitution. The government struck back
with an initiative that requires ISPs to
renew contracts with TelOne with the
stipulation that they report any e-mail
with “offensive or dangerous” content. In
essence, this requires ISPs to do what
the Supreme Court has ruled
unconstitutional. The Zimbabwe Internet
Service Providers Association has stated
that none of its members will sign
agreements with TelOne.[3]

The government strengthened its Internet


surveillance policies with the Interception
of Communications Bill of 2006. Under
its provisions, the government will
establish a telecommunications agency
called the Monitoring and Interception of
Communications Center to oversee,
among other things, all
telecommunications and postal services.
Telecommunications and Internet service
providers are required to ensure that their
systems are technically capable of
monitoring and to cover all associated
costs. The government initially withdrew
the bill in November 2006 over
constitutionality objections from the
Parliamentary Legal Committee, but the
parliament approved it in June 2007.[3]

In June 2009, the government began


discussing a new Information
Communication and Technology Bill,
which will take the place of the
Broadcasting Services Act and the Posts
and Telecommunications Act. It will also
amend some sections of the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy
Act, which, among other things, governs
the accreditation of journalists. If
passed, the bill will consolidate ICT
regulation under the proposed National
Information and Communications
Technology Authority of Zimbabwe,
which will oversee ICT, broadcasting and
postal services. The Authority will
technically be an independent
organization, though it will also be
responsible for enacting government
policies, a duty that may compromise its
independence.[3]

Surveillance and censorship


The Posts and Telecommunications Act
introduced by Zimbabwe on 8 March
2000 empowers the government to
intercept private e-mail traffic at its
discretion. Sending or receiving
disparaging comments about the country
and its leadership rendered Zimbabwean
nationals liable for a Z$200,000 fine.[13] A
spokesman for Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights claimed that the
legislation was "designed to remind
internet service providers and others that
they operated only at the mercy of the
president."[14]

According to Reporters Without Borders,


during the 2008 presidential elections,
government forces hacked into
journalists’ e-mail accounts; eight
journalists were fired for allegedly failing
to support Mugabe and the ZANU-PF.
Employees of the Reserve Bank are not
allowed to receive e-mails containing the
words “Morgan Tsvangirai” or “MDC”; the
bank has had an e-mail content manager
installed since 2006 that prevents e-
mails with political content from reaching
their intended recipients. In 2005,
authorities arrested 40 people in a raid on
a local Internet café because an e-mail
insulting Mugabe was sent from the
location.[3]

The OpenNet Initiative conducted testing


on Zimbabwean ISP CABSAS in
September 2008 and found no evidence
of filtering.[3]

In 2017 it was announced that a new


Board Of Censors headed by Home
Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo will be
commissioned to tackle the spread of
information in the digital age.[15]

See also
.zw
References
1. Zunguze, Margaret. "Contextualizing ICT
for Development in Zimbabwe" (https://w
eb.archive.org/web/20101227231137/htt
p://www.ngopulse.org/files/zim.pdf)
(PDF). Sangonet. Archived from the
original (http://www.ngopulse.org/files/zi
m.pdf) (PDF) on December 27, 2010.
Retrieved December 27, 2010.
2. "Communications Service Provider in
Zimbabwe - Overview" (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20050309060219/http://www.
mbendi.com/indy/cotl/cotl/af/zi/p0005.h
tm) . Mbendi Information Services.
Archived from the original (http://www.m
bendi.com/indy/cotl/cotl/af/zi/p0005.ht
m) on March 9, 2005. Retrieved
February 1, 2013.
3. "Zimbabwe" (http://opennet.net/research/
profiles/zimbabwe) . OpenNet Initiative.
30 September 2009. Retrieved
16 January 2010. This article
incorporates text from this source, which
carries a Creative Commons Attribution
license.
4. "Internet Access Provider services" (http
s://web.archive.org/web/2012090612334
2/http://www.potraz.gov.zw/index.php/int
ernet-access-providers-operators.html) .
Postal and Telecommunications
Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe.
Archived from the original (http://www.po
traz.gov.zw/index.php/internet-access-pr
oviders-operators.html) on September 6,
2012. Retrieved February 1, 2013.
5. "Current ZISPA members" (https://web.ar
chive.org/web/20130811173213/http://zi
spa.org.zw/members.html) . Zimbabwe
Internet Service Providers Association.
Archived from the original (http://www.zis
pa.org.zw/members.html) on August 11,
2013. Retrieved February 1, 2013.
6. Kabweza, L.S.M (10 January 2014).
"Zimbabwe Internet statistics: 5.2 million
subscriptions. 40% penetration" (http://w
ww.techzim.co.zw/2014/01/zimbabwe-in
ternet-statistics-5-2-million-subscriptions-
40-penetration/) . TechZim. Retrieved
1 April 2014.
7. "Percentage of individuals using the
internet" (http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/stat
istics/material/excel/Individuals%20usin
g%20the%20Internet2000-2011.xls)
(XLS). International Telecommunication
Union. Retrieved January 31, 2013.
8. Kabweza, L.S.M (22 July 2013).
"Broadband in Zimbabwe: The Liquid
Telecom fibre network map (July 2013)"
(http://www.techzim.co.zw/2013/07/broa
dband-in-zimbabwe-the-liquid-telecom-fib
re-map-july-2013/) . TechZim.
9. Kabweza, L.S.M (29 January 2013).
"Liquid expands footprint with East
African assets acquisition" (http://www.te
chzim.co.zw/2013/01/liquid-expands-foo
tprint-with-east-african-assets-acquisitio
n/) . TechZim. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
10. Kabweza, LSM (January 30, 2012). "How
much the price of internet connectivity
can reduce in one year" (http://www.techz
im.co.zw/2012/01/how-much-the-price-o
f-internet-connectivity-can-in-one-year/) .
Technology Zimbabwe. Retrieved
February 1, 2013.
11. "ICT Africa 2011" (https://archive.today/2
0130421224740/http://www.comsa.org.z
w/index.php/ict-africa/ict-africa-2011) .
Archived from the original (http://www.co
msa.org.zw/index.php/ict-africa/ict-africa
-2011) on 2013-04-21. Retrieved
2013-02-01.
12. "The Government Internet Service
Provider Misleading Its Visitors -
Techzim" (http://www.techzim.co.zw/200
9/09/the-government-internet-service-pro
vider-misleading-its-visitors/) . Techzim.
2009-09-24. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
13. Stiff, Peter (June 2000). Cry Zimbabwe:
Independence – Twenty Years On.
Johannesburg: Galago Publishing.
ISBN 978-1919854021.
14. "BBC News | AFRICA | Outcry at
Zimbabwe internet bill" (http://news.bbc.c
o.uk/2/hi/africa/683681.stm) .
news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
15. "Zimbabwe Censorship Act Bans Sharing
of Pornography" (https://www.mukaidigit
al.com/zimbabwe-censorship-act-pornog
raphy/) . 10 May 2020.
Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Internet_in_Zimbabwe&oldid=1151146943"

This page was last edited on 22 April 2023, at


06:40 (UTC). •
Content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0 unless
otherwise noted.

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