duplication of infrastructure and wastage. Ideally, ICT operators should compete on the basis of services provided as opposed to infrastructure. As a starting point, all the ICT infrastructure required to build the backbone which is currently deployed in government departments and SEPs will be pooled together to form the seed infrastructure. This approach significantly reduces the initial setup funding requirements, provides quicker implementation and eliminates duplication and wastage regarding infrastructure in the country. 7.1 Policy Statements: The Development of National ICT Backbone a) The Ministry will facilitate the setting up of a national ICT backbone for broadband services, information and applications to avoid the duplication of investment by service providers in the country. b) The Institutional and regulatory framework will be implemented for the ICT backbone to be owned by a single entity where Government, SEPs and the private sector can be shareholders. Government will retain control to ensure that a national mandate for universal and affordable access is achieved. c) Establish high speed and high capacity links to enable Zimbabwe’s integration towards global interconnectivity. The ICT backbone will form the connectivity backbone across all provinces and cascade down to district levels. 7.2 Policy Statements: Infrastructure Sharing Over and above its regulatory mandate, the Government of Zimbabwe has embarked on a deliberate policy to encourage commercial infrastructure sharing. Commercial infrastructure sharing will result in the efficient use of national resources and avoids duplication of infrastructure. Impeccable global research has proven that telecommunications companies save up to 40% of capital costs by adopting infrastructure sharing. Infrastructure sharing also removes the biggest barrier to ICTs investment, which is huge infrastructure costs. The national ICT policy therefore seeks to: a) Develop and implement the regulatory and legal framework to enable and enforce infrastructure sharing by ICT service providers to minimise costs to consumers and improve efficiency. b) Facilitate investment and encourage companies that focus on deployment and operating infrastructure entities. c) Facilitate the creation of a platform where service providers can share and exchange information on infrastructure sharing and agree pricing models. d) Adopt a dig once policy to facilitate infrastructure sharing across all utility providers in the country. This should be co-ordinated through a one stop shop infrastructure sharing facility. e) Facilitate the establishment of a national fibre backbone with open access by the State. 22