Internet Access in Zambia: Current Status and Outlook
As of December 2023, ZICTA reported about 12.6 million internet subscriptions, representing 64.1% penetration. DataReportal’s Digital 2024 estimate puts Zambia at 6.51 million internet users, about 31.2% of the population, due to multiple SIM ownership inflating subscription counts. Over 99% of internet users rely on mobile broadband, while roughly 99,000 fixed-line subscriptions existed nationwide in 2023. Median download speeds were about 15 Mbps on mobile and 8.7 Mbps on fixed broadband in early 2023; by February 2024 mobile speeds rose to ~19.6 Mbps and fixed to ~21.3 Mbps, with uploads ~7.6 Mbps mobile and 5.3 Mbps fixed. MTN launched Zambia’s