Telecommunication in Zambia

Development of telephone and internet connections

With an average download speed of 7.9 Mbit/second for fixed-network broadband internet, Zambia ranked 162nd in an international comparison. The upload rate was 8.9 Mbit/second (124th place).
In mobile internet, i.e. on tablets and smartphones, Zambia comes 128th with a download speed of 10.27 Mbit/second. The upload speed of around 8 Mbit was enough for 108th place.

The Speedtest Global Index published regularly by Ookla is based on several million individual measurements in July 2022 from 182 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% 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 - 2020

Zambia is lagging behind in the expansion of broadband Internet connections. Around 20% of all residents have access to the Internet. Around 0% have their own fast Internet connection, which is at least faster than the former ISDN (more than 256 kbit/s). All fixed connections via DSL, cable or satellite were counted here, but not those connected to the Internet via mobile communications.