
Telecommunication in Zambia
Compared to the United States, Zambia is massively lagging behind in the development of telecommunications. Under the country code +260, there were a total of 20.31 million connections in 2021. Among them were 20.25 million mobile phones, which corresponds to an average of 1.0 per person. In the US, this figure is 1.1 mobile phones per person.With about 16,571 webhosts, Zambia is below the world's average by population. At the end of 2020, 745 of these, or about 4 percent, were secured with SSL or comparable encryption.
Back to overview: Zambia
Development of telephone and internet connections
With an average download speed of 7.7 Mbit/second for fixed-network broadband internet, Zambia ranks 162nd in an international comparison. The upload rate was 8.5 Mbit/second (135th place).In mobile internet, i.e., on tablets and smartphones, Zambia comes 122nd with a download speed of 13.76 Mbit/second. The upload speed of around 11 Mbit was enough for 68th place.
The Speedtest Global Index published regularly by Ookla is based on several million individual measurements in October 2022 from 180 countries.
The following diagrams show the development of the various telephone and internet connections as a percentage of the country's population. Values above 100 percent mean that, on average, every inhabitant has more than one connection.
Access to the internet in Zambia from 1990 - 2020
Broadband internet in Zambia 2000 - 2021

Landlines 1990 - 2021
Mobile phones 1990 - 2021
Distribution in 2021 | Zambia Total | Zambia percent | USA Total | USA percent |
---|---|---|---|---|
Broadband users | 80,592.00 | 0.41 % | 127.03 m | 38.27 % |
Landlines | 65,913.00 | 0.34 % | 97.11 m | 29.26 % |
Mobile cellulars | 20.25 m | 103.97 % | 361.62 m | 108.96 % |