Click Here & Upgrade PDF Complete Expanded Features Unlimited Pages Documents Europe and Asia; Mwembeshi I was installed in 1974, Mwembeshi II in 1987 while Mwembeshi III was completed in 2002. Apart from telephone services, all earth stations transmit and receive international television via INTELSAT satellite. In recent years, ZAMTEL has also commissioned a Domestic Satellite system to provide telephony services to remote rural areas. Unfortunately, this service has not been extended beyond Sesheke, Sinazongwe and Kaputa, which were commissioned in 1995. Wireless Local Loop (WLL) ZAMTEL has installed the WLL system to cater for peri-urban communities that are closer to the exchanges but cannot be serviced by wireline technology. However, deployment and coverage of the WLL system is very limited. ZAMTEL is currently conducting a gradual replacement of the analogue WLL system with digital technology, mainly in urban areas along the line of rail. National Fibre Optic Backbone Unlike neighbouring countries which have made substantial investments in telecommunications infrastructure, Zambia lacks a modern fibre optic backbone for national and regional interconnection, despite the fact that fibre is terminating at Zambia s borders: Zimbabwe at Kariba, Botswana at Kazungula and Namibia at Katima Mulilo. The Copperbelt Energy Company (CEC) has installed a 24-core 520km fibre optic backbone on the Copperbelt, whose excess capacity is available for resale to potential users. On the other hand, ZESCO has already installed a 45km fibre optic cable between Lusaka and Kafue. It is desirable that a national network covering the entire country will be developed taking advantage of existing infrastructure such as electricity powerlines as a means of quick rollout of the network (using powerline technology, about 3,500km of fibre optic cabling is needed to cover the country up to provincial level). In order to leapfrog the existing capacity and technology requirements for overhauling the existing telecommunications infrastructure, thereby laying a solid foundation for delivering current and future services ranging from digital radio, TV, Internet, data and other multimedia services, Fibre based technology provides a comprehensive and reliable network for the country. The possibility of reducing telephone and Internet costs can be achieved by interconnecting the proposed national Fibre Optic network to the under-sea cable running along the African coast (west and east) connecting to Europe and Asia; some of the most active communication destinations for Zambia. However, this requires implementation modalities in terms of network licensing, access conditions, management and operation of the backbone in the most optimal and beneficial manner to the entire country. Mobile Phone Services The CAZ has licensed three mobile cellular service providers by 2004 from one (01) in 1996, namely ZAMTEL operating as CELL , TELECEL (now acquired by MTN group) and CELTEL (formerly ZAMCELL) and is considering the entrance of a fourth mobile 9