The sole fixed telephone network, run by the state owned TelOne, is in an appalling state of affairs with erratic coverage in the urban areas and is virtually non-existent in the rural areas. This has inadvertently led to a major increase in the use of mobile telephones by the majority of Zimbabweans from all socio-economic and geographic backgrounds. The three mobile telephone networks, (Econet Wireless, Telecel, and the state owned Net One,) have, however, failed to cope with the market demand for their services in Zimbabwe’s hyperinflationary environment. On November 6, 2008, Econet Wireless published a statement in the local print media withdrawing its contract line services for clients under the Business Partna scheme as of November 10, 2008, a move which has left thousands of Zimbabweans deprived of their right to communicate. Other mobile service providers and affiliate service companies, in tandem with Econet Wireless, have increased tariffs, with the average cost of a text message having risen from approximately ZW$1000 to at least ZW20 000, an increase of 2000%. It is MISA Zimbabwe’s considered position that this state of affairs in the telecommunications industry is a serious impediment on the right of the people of Zimbabwe to communicate; as well as their right to freedom of expression as guaranteed in Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. This right includes the ability and access to usage of tools of communication such as the Internet, fixed telephones and mobile telephone networks by ordinary people, as emphasised by the World Summit on Information Societies (WSIS) held in Tunis, Tunisia 2005. In light of these universally accepted principles, MISA Zimbabwe urges the fixed and mobile telephone service providers as well as the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) to act with the full understanding that communication is a human right and not a privilege. To therefore unilaterally increase tariffs without consulting members of the public or carrying out publicised surveys of the importance of communication to the people of Zimbabwe in times of social and economic strife is to act in contradiction with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to ignore the WSIS principles established under the auspices of the International Telecommunications Union which outline that all forms of communication, especially ICT’s, must be geared towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Proposed ICT Bill In this vein MISA-Zimbabwe notes efforts by the Attorney-General’s Office to develop an Information Communication Technologies (ICT) Bill through the circulation of a questionnaire which among other considerations seeks to identify shortfalls in ICT related legislation in Zimbabwe. The Posts and Telecommunications Act, Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) are identified as some of the laws that will be taken into consideration towards the development of a national ICT Bill. The questionnaire therefore seeks to establish whether the three laws in question have overlapping functions and whether it is possible to consolidate them into one Act. It is MISA-Zimbabwe’s strong submission that in their present state the laws in question and BSA and AIPPA in particular, do not even meet the benchmarks for the enactment of a progressive and democratic national ICT legislation more so as it relates to the establishment 11