Access to mobile telephone network has remained a major challenge in various districts of Matabeleland south with those in the border lying areas being the worst affected.
Villagers in Kafusi Gwanda South say they are currently relying on foreign service providers due to lack of the requisite communication infrastructure in the province.
"The situation here is really a cause for concern because communication is difficult. There are spots that we can go to access Econet services but we want an efficient service from all operators," said the villagers
In a bid to address this challenge, the government has continued to invest in upgrading mobile telephone network infrastructure across the country through the universal services fund administered by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz).
In an interview, the deputy minister of information communication technology, postal and courier service, Honourable Dingumuzi Phuthi said government will set up 15 base stations this year.
"POTRAZ has funds that are called universal services funds that are deployed to cater for lowly covered areas . to date such projects have been done across the country. our plans this year are to deploy 15 base stations so that they build towers in under-serviced areas," he said
Deputy Minister Phuti added that significant strides have been made in the installation of optic fibre across the country.
Meanwhile, the ministry is proposing that more funding be allocated to the critical sector arguing that advancement in the use of information communication technologies is key in the attainment of vision 2030.
