Published: 08 May 2014

The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe says it is in the process of re-planning spectrum allocations to cater for 4G.

4G is a mobile communications standard intended to replace 3G, allowing wireless Internet access at a much higher speed. The move will come as relief for broadband customers who have been struggling with poor connectivity.

Potraz deputy director-general Alfred Marisa told BH24 that the Authority is currently engaging Government on how the spectrum will be allocated to players in the local telecoms industry.

"The Authority is currently engaged in this exercise of re-planning the spectrum allocations so as to create sufficient 4G spectrum. The Authority is also consulting Government on how the 4G spectrum will eventually be allocated to deserving players in the market," he said.

"There are many spectrum bands that can be used for 4G services although most of them have not yet been matured in terms of standards, availability of equipment and gadgets. Some of the bands are still occupied by other services which have to be migrated to other non-4G bands."

Although 4G is around five times faster than existing 3G services, its utilisation will put a premium on high-end smart phones since 4G networks use different frequencies to transmit data than 3G.3

At present, Zimbabwe's three mobile operators - Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, Telecel Zimbabwe and NetOne - were already using the 1800 MHz band especially in congested urban centres.

Potraz has also since re-assigned TelOne's CDMA spectrum allocation and allowed them to offer Long term Evolution (LTE) services in the 800 MHz band. Marisa noted some of the services currently being marketed as 4G were in actual fact not 4G.

"LTE spectrum was made available to existing mobile Operators in the 1800 MHz Band to allow them to offer high speed internet during last year's UNWTO Conference in Victoria Falls.

"Although being marketed as 4G services, these LTE services do not fully satisfy the technical requirements as set forth by the ITU-R in its IMT-Advanced specifications. However, due to marketing pressures, the world over, LTE services are generally being referred to as 4G services," he said.
- BH24

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