Image Credit: Tigzozo Media
Ladies and gentlemen, we have been in Zambia since the 14th of October, attending the Computer Society of Zimbabwe Summit 2025, and there’s a lot to share.
Do note that we have been sharing updates on our social media platforms, and so you might want to follow those to stay up to date in real time.
Like I said, it was a packed schedule, and so we’re going to give you a comprehensive summary of what was talked about.
However, for now, we’re going to talk about a particular session which our Minister of ICT, Tatenda Mavetera, was a part of. I’m sure after you read on, you will understand why we started with a session from late afternoon of Day Two.
During the Zambezi Tech Talk at the CSZSummit ’25, Zimbabwe’s ICT Minister, Tatenda Mavetera, was asked a simple question, along the lines of “What is the government doing to improve connectivity in Zimbabwe?”
Her answer touched on pretty much everything: fibre, mobile networks, data centres, and even satellites.
The National Broadband Plan, the big picture
Basically, the National Broadband Plan is key. Mavetera said it’s the main guide for all the ongoing and future projects to improve our internet connections.
It’s a mix of several things, including:
- laying fibre across the country,
- capacitating telcos, including by rolling out more base stations,
- hence why the Ministry seems to be serious about infrastructure-sharing programmes that are meant to cut duplication and stretch coverage. This is tied to the tower relocation programme we talked about a while ago.
According to Mavetera, Zimbabwe now has over 70,000 kilometres of fibre, excluding privately owned infrastructure I imagine.
That number shows how much the backbone has grown, even if the experience on the ground still depends on how close you are to that fibre.
5G and satellites
The Minister said Zimbabwe now has over 400 5G towers.
That’s a big jump from the 252 we saw in POTRAZ’s Q2 2025 sector report, but that report covers the period between April and June. We’re now in October, and as the person with access to current data, Mavetera would know where we are now.
She also said LEO satellites have been a game-changer after Starlink was licensed last year. It makes sense for places that fibre and mobile networks have struggled to reach.
The data centre upgrade, shooting for Tier 4
Mavetera added that there are plans to upgrade the National Data Centre to what she described as a Tier 4 standard.
I asked around, Tier 4 is the highest possible level of reliability for data centres, the kind that guarantees 99.995% uptime and full fault tolerance. Most African countries run Tier 3 facilities, so if Zimbabwe gets there, it would be an impressive flex.
Whether that’s already in motion or still at the planning stage wasn’t made clear, but I guess the ambition is there.
Infrastructure sharing and tower relocation
The Minister also touched on infrastructure sharing, something that’s been talked about for years but is slow to take off. Mostly because it’s a bit too controversial in Zim because of the government being a major shareholder in the walking dead Telecel and sole shareholder in the number two NetOne.
Mavetera said the government is still pushing for it, as part of the tower relocation programme and more stuff to reduce costs to rollout for operators.
The idea is simple: instead of each operator building their own tower in the same area, they share. That saves money, widens coverage, and makes rural deployments a bit more viable, especially with ZESA challenges and forex shortages.
In short
Mavetera’s message was somewhat clear: the government is doing different stuff to improve connectivity: more fibre, more towers, better data infrastructure, and new tech like satellites filling in the gaps.
If even half of what she talked about comes together, Zimbabwe would be a better place to live in.
Will we execute on all this? That’s the million dollar question.
