Following persistent complaints regarding Airtel Zambia's alleged poor network and services, the company is now moving to upgrade its infrastructure amid fears that it may lose subscribers if the status quo is not changed.
Airtel subscribers have been protesting against poor service by boycotting the network every Wednesday in a bid to press the company's management to improve services.
Now, Airtel Zambia MD Fayaz King said the company's network is set to improve with a planned $1.5 billion investment by Airtel Africa in infrastructure and network upgrades in Zambia and other African countries in which it has a presence.
The Airtel Africa investment, King said, will see the company provide High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and 3G services.
“This will come with speeds of up to 21Mbps, which are critical in propelling the transformation of consumers in Zambia through the wireless broadband on 3G-enabled handsets,” said King, speaking at the launch of Airtel's year-end promotion, dubbed Airtel Frienzy.
According to King, the promotion, which will end in February 2012, is aimed at showing customers appreciation for their loyalty to the network and forms part of efforts to give back to the community. Over 2 000 Samsung handsets and tablets, among other devices, will be distributed.
King attributed the growth to customers' loyalty in supporting the network, which has been achieved during the 17 months that Airtel Zambia has been in operation.
King did not say whether the $1.5 billion was part of the money the company was using to build sharable towers across the country in a bid to speed up the rollout of the network and improve service delivery.
Airtel Zambia has partnered with the Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA), the country's telecoms sector regulator, in the Universal Access Project, which will see the construction of 350 sharable communication towers across Zambia.
Over 70 towers have already been constructed and are in use in the western part of the country, which had never been connected to mobile communication.
Airtel Zambia is facing serious competition from MTN Zambia, a subsidiary of MTN SA, which has received fewer complaints regarding poor services and whose network is expanding rapidly.
Last week, ZICTA announced that it is researching number portability, which will allow customers to migrate to operators with better networks and services without having to change their numbers.
ZICTA's DG, Margret Mudenda, said customers should not be “forced to stay with operators that provide poor services for fear of losing their numbers and contacts”.
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