POTRAZ Denies Chivayo's IMC Communications Has Exclusive Rights To Partner Starlink
The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) has clarified the licensing of internet service providers (ISPs) in the country, including those partnering with Starlink.
Speaking to The Herald, POTRAZ Director-General Gift Machengete said the regulatory body has issued several ISP licenses to both prospective and existing operators, and none of these licenses carry sole or exclusive rights to partner with Starlink.
This appears to contradict a previous announcement made by President Emmerson Mnangagwa on May 25th, where he stated that IMC Communications, which is linked to businessman Wicknell Chivayo, had been approved as the “sole and exclusive local partner” for Starlink in Zimbabwe.
Machengete’s comments suggest that the President’s statement may have been inaccurate or incomplete, as POTRAZ has not granted any ISP an exclusive partnership with Starlink. Said Machengete:
POTRAZ has over the years granted licences to ISPs such as DFA Zimbabwe, ZOL, Utande, Powertel, Liquid Intelligent and TelOne, among others.
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Machengete asserted that none of the ISPs holds a licence with sole or exclusivity rights for any internet services because that would violate the country’s competition laws. He said:
An ISP licence is an internet service provider’s licence. Several others already have the licences.
In our licence categories, we have no licences for exclusivity. Our licences are not technology-specific, in this case, the service that we are licensing is internet service provision.
This means that anyone who has our licence, if it is an ISP, that person can go to Starlink, that person can go to Liquid, that person can use any technology.
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