The Malawi and Zambia Governments on Thursday signed signed a Memorundum of Understanding on the Diplomatic Data Corridor aimed at reducing the cost of data between the two neighbouring country’s.
The Ministry of Information and Digitalization (Malawi) and the Ministry of Technology and Science (Zambia) and the commercial agreement between ESCOM (Malawi) and Fibrecom (Zambia) signed the MoU’s on behalf of the two Governments.
Speaking at the ceremony, Minister of Information and Digitalization Moses Kumkuyu described the agreement as enabler for Malawi through ESCOM, to purchase internet connectivity capacity from FibreCom at a lowest cost.
“Currently the running data in Malawi is high because it is obtained from undersea cables but now the signing of this MoU will see the running data being lowered thereby allowing Malawians a privilege of using the internet in various fields like Education, Agriculture, Health, Trade, E-commerce and many others” said Kumkuyu
On his part, Zambian Minister of Technology and Science Felix Mutati concurred with Kumkuyu saying this will facilitate the joint goal of bringing down the cost connectivity in Malawi.
However, ESCOM Limited Chief Executive Officer Kamkwamba Kumwenda said the agreement will help people to access internet at a lower price as private providers will be buying data at diplomatic data prices.
“What it means is that we will be buying data without paying taxes and once ESCOM we set up our internet provision it means on average the data must come down between 55 percent to 50 percent so where ever there’s ESCOM transmission lines, schools, homes, hospitals will be attached with cheaper internet through ESCOM” said Kamkwamba
MACRA Director General Mr. Daud Suleman said the creation of the Diplomatic Data Corridor between Escom Malawi through their fibre optic cables and Fibrecom through their Fibre cables is a significant margin drop that is hope from a regulator.
“Today marks another significant milestone in our country as we continue to sing the song that data is falling. Today marks another steep drop in data prices in Malawi.
“…we that licensed operators that are reselling data in Malawi are going to pass on that saving, in so doing we expect that data prices will become even more cheaper than where they are.” Mr. Suleman said.
He said Malawi was ranked as one of the highest data-priced countries in Africa but for the past three years, we have seen a significant drop. This event marks another promising corner for cheaper data.
He also mentioned the one network initiative in which the two countries are seeking to drop roaming charges on voice calls.
The Diplomatic Data Corridor agreement is about establishing a passage through Zambia through which the internet should pass as Malawi connects to the undersea fibre cables.
The agreement allows Malawi to use government infrastructure in Zambia at a reasonable cost.
