StarTimes and Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation Establish TopStar Joint Venture for Digital Television Migration

On May 12, 2016, the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) and StarTimes Communication Network Technology Co. Ltd. (四達時代通訊網絡技術有限公司), a subsidiary of the Chinese media conglomerate StarTimes Group (四達時代集團), signed an agreement establishing TopStar Communications Company Limited as a joint venture to serve as Zambia’s official public signal distributor and digital migration agent, with StarTimes holding a 60 percent controlling stake and ZNBC 40 percent for an initial period of 25 years. According to AidData, the joint venture followed a commercial contract worth 273 million US dollars signed on September 18, 2015, between Zambia’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services and StarTimes Communication Network Technology Co. Ltd. The deal was financed through a 232 million US dollar preferential buyer’s credit signed on December 26, 2016, between the Export-Import Bank of China (中國進出口銀行) and the Government of Zambia, carrying a 2 percent fixed interest rate, a five-year grace period, and a 20-year maturity. AidData records that 63.5 percent of the loan proceeds (approximately 147.4 million US dollars) were on-lent to TopStar Communications Company Limited, with the remaining 36.5 percent (approximately 84.7 million US dollars) on-lent to ZNBC. Future dividends receivable from TopStar were pledged as collateral for the loan. Former ZNBC Director-General Chibamba Kanyama publicly described the arrangement as a “rip-off”, stating that digital migration could have been achieved for under 100 million US dollars without transferring majority control to a Chinese company. A peer-reviewed assessment by Norway’s Chr. Michelsen Institute concluded that StarTimes had “taken over some of ZNBC activities” and would “manage Topstar until the loan has been paid in full,” while noting that it had not taken over ZNBC as a whole. By December 2022, ZNBC and TopStar had accumulated more than 20 million US dollars in principal and interest arrears under their on-lending agreements, according to AidData.