The Malawi and Zambian governments have today signed a memorandum of understanding on the Diplomatic Data Corridor. The Ministry of Information and Digitalization (Malawi) and the Ministry of Technology and Science (Zambia) and the commercial agreement between ESCOM (Malawi) and Fibrecom (ZAMBIA) signed the MOUs on behalf of the two governments.
Speaking at the function, Minister of information and Digitalization Hon. Moses Kunkuyu Kalongashawa hailed the agreement as enabler for Malawi, through ESCOM, to purchase internet connectivity capacity from FibreCom at a friendlier cost; while his Zambia counterpart Honourable Felix Mutati, conquered to say that this will facilitate the joint goal of bringing down the cost of connectivity in Malawi.
In his remarks, MACRA Director General Mr. Daud Suleman said the creation of the Diplomatic Data Corridor between Escom Malawi through their fibre optic cables and Fibrecom through their Fibre cables is a significant margin drop that is hope from a regulator.
“Today marks another significant milestone in our country as we continue to sing the song that data is falling. Today marks another steep drop in data prices in Malawi.
“…we that licensed operators that are reselling data in Malawi are going to pass on that saving, in so doing we expect that data prices will become even more cheaper than where they are.” Mr. Suleman said. He said Malawi was ranked as one of the highest data-priced countries in Africa but for the past three years, we have seen a significant drop. This event marks another promising corner for cheaper data.
He also mentioned the one network initiative in which the two countries are seeking to drop roaming charges on voice calls. The Diplomatic Data Corridor agreement is about establishing a passage through Zambia through which the internet should pass as Malawi connects to the undersea fibre cables. The agreement allows Malawi to use government infrastructure in Zambia at a reasonable cost.