ICT Minister Supa Mandiwanzira
ZIMBABWE’s government and telecommunications sector will partner to set up a fund to support and promote budding innovators in the country’s information technology sector, ICT Minister Supa Mandiwanzira has said.
Under the initiative, the telecommunications companies are expected to contribute one percent of their annual revenue into the fund.
The latest available annual revenue statistics from the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) show the sector registered $907 million revenue in 2014, which would translate to a $9 million potential contribution to the fund.
It is anticipated up to $25 million would be mobilised in the next two years.
The idea was born out of complaints from the players in the telecommunications sector who wanted government to either ban or stifle use of over the top services (OTTs) such as WhatsApp, Viber and Skype which are eating into their revenues, the minister said.
“We did mention that as a progressive government which promotes access to technology, we were averse to the idea of stifling these technologies or banning them but rather we should look at an opportunity to develop our own young Zimbabweans who should develop software and programmes that counter those that are coming from Silicon Valley,” the minister said on Thursday at the E-Tech Africa Symposium.