The Zambian government has raised international gateway license fees from US$12 million to $19.5 million, despite complaints from telecom companies that fees are already too high.

The fees have been adjusted upwards by the government with immediate effect, said Minister of Communications and Transport Dora Siliya.

The increase makes Zambia the most expensive country in the Southern African Development Community and the East African region for private telecom investors to do business.

Currently, the cost of acquiring an international gateway license stands at $214,000 in Kenya and at $50,000 in Uganda.

The increase is in deviance of the private mobile service providers in the country, which have been pushing the government to reduce the gateway license fees blamed for the high cost of communication in the country.

In April, mobile telecommunication company Zain petitioned the Zambian Parliament to break the deadlock over international gateway license fees that has been dragging on for more than two years. Zain asked parliamentarians to force the Zambian government to reduce the cost of the licenses to make the mobile market competitive.

Many countries in the region have already deregulated their international gateways, allowing private mobile operators to have their own international gateways. The Zambian government, however, claims that doing so would put the country's security at risk.

In protest of Zambia's failure to deregulate the international gateway, Zain Zambia has refused to launch a borderless network in the country.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.