Zambia had made an expensive deal with China to transform its analog network into a digital network a few years ago. The country was in need to start digital transmitters to carry the new TV signal and StarTimes helped that time to set a venture between both the countries. StarTimes has close links to China’s Government and controls 60% of the joint venture, called TopStar. And Zambia’s national broadcaster ZNBC owns another 40% of TopStar.

The bankroll of the agreement between both countries was $232 million. TopStar had taken a loan from China’s Exim bank to pay the amount on behalf of Zambia. But ZNBC lacked to establish TopStar by $40,000 start capital. So StarTimes lent money to ZNBC. Now in 2019, media watchdogs and local media owners are blaming China to influence Zambia media landscape and are also concerned that locals can watch only Chinese Kung Fu Movies with limited local programming.

But the intention of the mitigation was to shake up the media landscape by switching from older technology to newer technology. Digital technology would allow viewers to watch more TV channels by freeing up bandwidth. It sounds like a profitable deal but the Media Owner Association of Zambia said that many of the private TV owners are not enjoying the services, which were committed by China. Goedkoop internet compare all digital TV and internet packages on your zip code, which people can check and see for themselves.

Zambia is not getting the benefits of mitigation. And accuses that TopStar and StarTimes, who were majority holder in the deal, are closing Zambia out of the digital market. According to the Zambian government, the digital migration loan is fully repaid to Exim Bank, so TopStar’s ownership should be reverted to ZNBC with StarTimes playing a minor role.