MTN Zambia Expands
By Nawa Mutumweno – MTN Zambia has invested about $30 million in technology for the company’s network expansion programme this year.
The company’s chief executive officer Farhad Khan told a press briefing on September 21, 2010 that in a bid to provide their customers with quality access to international destinations for voice and data, MTN Zambia has also invested a total of $2.5 million for the EASSy Cable project.
“We have also invested a further $2.5 million in the local metro fibre cable project in Lusaka which is a local access network that will support high transmission capacity as well as voice,” he elaborated.
It is envisaged that the local metro fibre project will be commissioined between November 2010 and February 2011.
MTN is deemed to be the fastest growing network in the country and has since grown beyond the 1.6 million subscriber mark.
The company has consistently offered the best value for Zambia with call rates being 20 – 30 percent cheaper than the other networks.
“We have achieved this, firmly by focusing on ensuring that every Zambian has access to mobile telephony through the introduction of products like ‘Mahala’ and ‘Boostele’ campaigns which have allowed for discounts of up to 50 percent and the availability of handsets from as low as K60 000,” he added.
In the wake of the recent reduction of interconnect tariffs by the Zambia Information Communication and Technology Authority (ZICTA), the company will be reducing its tariffs further accordingly.
“We have since reduced our tariffs during peak hours on-net by 26 percent from K1 380 to K1 020; peak off-net by nine percent from K1 380 to K1 260; and 31 percent for off peak off-net from K780 to K540 and so on,” he added.
Tariff reductions were also applied to SMS and data tariffs which have been reduced to K205 on-net, K285 off-net and K410 for international messages.
And MTN Zambia has launched a new product in its pursuit of making mobile communication services more accessible and affordable for ordinary Zambians.
Speaking during a media briefing recently, MTN Zambia chief executive officer Farhad Khan announced that the new promotional product, Free Weekend Calling, would allow subscribers on MTN to get rewards for being on the network.
He explained that for every K5 000 talk time recharge, MTN subscribers would get 33 minutes of free calling time during weekends from October until January 2011.
“In our quest to enhance affordability and access to mobile service provision, we have introduced the Free Weekend Calling which will run for three months. This is applicable only on MTN to MTN calls,”Khan said.
He also announced the introduction of the K 5 000 and K50 000 air time denominations for the telecommunications firm.
The company would continue innovating promotions and products aimed at enhancing sales and the subscriber base while simultaneously benefitting subscribers, he added.
