• Airtel failed to adhere to Section 67(1) (a) of the Information and Communications Technologies Act, No. 15 of 2009.
• It also failed the Quality of Service parameters as outlined in the Quality of Service Guidelines.
• ZICTA will continue to monitor Airtel’s performance to ensure adherence to the Authority’s decision and the laws governing the sector.

Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) has fined Airtel Networks Zambia for contravening quality service obligations.
Authority Manager-Corporate Communications Hanford Chaaba revealed in a statement that the Mobile Network Provider failed to adhere to Section 67(1)(a) of the Information and Communications Technologies Act, No. 15 of 2009 and the Quality of Service parameters as outlined in the Quality of Service Guidelines.
Mr. Chaaba explained that this is in view of the recent network outages that affected the telecommunication company’s subscriber base.

“ZICTA is mandated under Section 6 (f) of the Information and Communications Technologies Act, No. 15 of 2009 to promote the interests of consumers of electronic communication services as well as ensuring that operators provide quality services to the public,” Mr. Chaaba stated.

He said Mobile Network Operator has since been directed to immediately implement an action plan aimed at resolving the recurring network outages and to strictly adhere to the implementation timelines.

“ZICTA will continue to monitor Airtel’s performance to ensure adherence to the Authority’s decision and the laws governing the sector,” he said.

Recently, Airtel Zambia had a system failure, leaving millions of people in the dark since as all service subscription applications were unavailable.
Some subscribers complained that monies were debited from their mobile Money accounts despite the transactions failing, while others reported purchasing electricity units but not receiving them, despite money being withdrawn.