Protection of ZAMTEL has not benefited Zambians-ZCC

1. What an excuse? Hiding in the name of security.ZAMTEL has clearly failed to bring down the costs of communication and is lagging so far behind in terms of technology because there is no competition.Countries like South Africa are now enjoying the benefit of competition with the coming of the second telephone company, innovation and lower costs will be the contention for these two companies and in the process it is the customer who benefits.Mwembeshi satellite is not for ZAMTEL but for Zambians

2. Security is just an excuse. We no longer use Cross-Bar Switches and analogy transmission where you could eaves drop easily. You need more complex approach to achieve that activity in this digital age where ciphering and deciphering need much more iteration. The NASA and other spy networks for you own information can collect any infor from any operator, private or national. We are not building any nuclear reactors neither are we exporting WMD in our poor Zambia.
   Opening up the gateway in short term will create at least 6 additional jobs per Operator. Put more money in taxes to govt.. Maybe awaken Zamtel..Zamtel is dead!!!!

3. Zamtel needs to be protected .Vandalism and theft of is one of the big problems the company is facing.People tell us about South Africa but the biggeset Telecomms company in RSA is run by the state.If they can do it why can we?.Zamtel is answerable to the board of Directors and consumers meaning lets support and demand for better services from these guyz.Brain train is another issue that is affecting Zamtel ,celtel or any other company does not train Zambians the way Zamtel does it.They are are always on Zamtel s doorsteps to steal OR lure talented Engineers from there.Most of the chaps in all these small companies were trained and groomed by Zamtel.Ordinary Zambians can improve Zamtel by de

4. Ordinary Zambians can improve Zamtel by demanding and pressing for better services and not by merely rushing to talk about the international gateway.Zamtel will continue to offer telecommunications in some rural areas at a loss because its government s policy to enable its citizens have access to the service in all parts of the country.A private company might not operate in ares like Sinazongwe because they are only interested in profits which might not be the case with Zamtel which might be interested in service providing and returns.Zamtel Zambia Forever

5. Choma1. You must be one of those illiterate managers who rose through ranks and see no other life apart from clinging to dyfunctional Zamtel without hope.

   Be realistic. Zamtel graph has been going down since Celtel and Telecel came into being. Before these Operators, it was static and getting rotten.

   Now we have Zamtel shooting in all directions without vision. What happened to the much talked Fibre.. Zesco a non Telecom company has even beaten Zamtel to the game in Fibre.

   What Zamtel need is restructuring and Repoisitioning and seek a global partner. Telecoms will never be protected, it is Global player.. Smell the coffe Choma1 one.. Go get Education.

6. Hk First of all I am very much educated .what kind of Education are you talking about?if its international degrees you are talking about I got them.Ask Ericsson they know me

7. There was no neeed for Zesco to rush in lying the optical fibre when they do not have money to take mainteance works on kariba and kafue.right they are looking for money when they could been generating the money by use of better generators

8. #3 Shows that, you underestimate the dynamics of the industry. Why should Celtel train fringe people when you have a foolish company willing only to train and not maintain. For your own information Celtel have sponsored a lot of students at university some of them have anchored their success.
   As for MTN former telecel, all they got from Zamtel was garbage. It is reflects from their performance, that former Zamtel not always good.
   Your example of telkom SA. telkom SA realized that they needed to restructure if they needed to survive. De-linkage of Mobile and other Services was key. Protecting Zamtel is definitely not the answer..NO NO NO..Why not hire Students to research on this.

9. Choma 1 once again, go get education, Telkom in South Africa is not protected. There is Neotel which is the second Network operator and is run privately. Your mentality is so backwards i wonder what school you went to. Competition is good and brings the good to the customers

10. Choma1.. Could you cost the project of Zesco laying Fiber VS Zamtel laying fibre. From this alone it would tell you Zesco was better suited to lay fibre, not only for Re-sale but for their own network Monitoring and Controls.
    On Generators for Power, I doubt if Figures adds up on Poer Generating Plants Costs Vs Fibre Network. The Figures for power stations runs into billions while Fiber network layout is in million dollar, not 3 digits millions.
    Take your pick, Zesco will make their ROI on Fibre and Zamtel again White Elephant.
    Protect Zamtel..You lose the Company.. Be Realistic

11. HK you talked about me getting education,please what kind of education do you mean?If you are in Lusaka I chllenge you to come with your academic certificates,we can meet at a place of ur choice.Lets not think other people are illiterates.We are only exchanging views here for the betterment of our country.Ericsson in the last 4 years has exposed me to so many african countries the last ones being Chad n kenya.I have a base for my argument.u should not forget that Zamtel is still dancing to polticians s tunes.Celtel is closer to me coz they use Ericsson as compared to Zamtel which is using chinese tech.Zamtel is a symbol of Zambia s independence and we can run zamtel-patriotism

12. hk i can drop you my number or email address.Are you a telecommms guy?

13. hk i can drop you my number or email address.Are you a telecommms guy?

14. You have some some points gentlemen but never forget that patriotism could be expensive.in the last five years zamtel has had 3 different MDs and this only says they could be a problem somewhere but definitely not with the international gateway.Celtel can have their international gateway we are not against as a gvt

15. Choma1. No one cares about Zamtel as long as they don’t stifle progress and competition. no one is interested if Zamtel don’t put a Telephone line anymore or when they don’t give you internet after many years on waiting list.
    Zamtel is clinging to the Gateway licensing to continue to rip where they are not sowing and the results is expensive intl calls.
    FYI, Zamtel charge less to terminate Calls from Overseas and Charge more for Zambians to make intl Calls. I doubt if the traffic balance sheet is in their favor as the payment are at agreed intl prices counting minutes& seconds. Logic would tell that more calls terminate in Zed network. benefit would be if both minutes and tarifs are aligned

16. choma gives us your number your challenge is good, we can link up this afternoon and bring your credentials

17. Gentlemen, interesting comments,tempers rising for no reason. Pliz lets never belittle our friends after all,it’s just a discussion. And i reckon that both of you HK & Choma1 are people who champion freedom of expression? but it should be expression with respect for others regardless of their,Age,gender,education back ground etc. This is being more manure,responsible & a true patriotic Zambian.

    I’m no telecomms guy but i’ve picked up something from yo points & that is good but pliz lets do it soberly!!!

18. Sorry meant mature!! And again no need to size each other up with who has a longer string of degrees!!!

19. # 15. HK
    is right, we are being ripped off because of zamtel. They are stiffling inovation. PLM is ignorant and is being lied to by his advisors about security. GRZ can make it a point to have monotoring facilities at all private gateways, who cares.
    Comrade choma, competition is good for development. With lower call charges maybe zambian business pipo will be more inovative and productive.

20. I thought this education being talked about is not a chain of degrees, but enlightment if u like, or well informed and probably well read? I’ll say, look at the way Celtel or MTN are running their Pay as you network, and the way it’s run in places like UK. There’s No doubt that by investing in technology, the UK mobile companies have cut costs for printing talktime cards, Cut costs on distribution & Marketing and they’re environmental friendly. Now the MD’s of all these companies are well travelled, and they know that with pay as you go, all they give u is a card like a bank card that can be topped up at supermarkets and other places. A well educated Manager will be striving for such.

21. It is a fact that Zamtel has been in a coma for a over a decade now and of course its mother GRZ is instinctively trying to protect it. For those with patriotic/security concerns the answer is simple. Make atleast 49% of the company public. We now have a stock exchange of some sort and Celtel is using it to raise capital to the tune of $200M. Cash rich structures like Napsa can scoop those shares because whether you like it or not Zamtel still owns more infrastructure than any of the toy operators around and is very viable given good management. New board can be put in place, minimize GRZ influence put in a place a competent CEO and you wont need any protection just to stay afloat.

22. I like your thoughts Mulilo but can our govt think in those lines? i mean look at ZNBC even with the K3000 extra from what GRZ gives them nothing has improved, we are forced to subscribe the cable TV.

    GRZ would want to hold on to Zamtel for the same reason they would ZNBC so as to be at an advantage over their political opponents & not for security as they claim.These institutions are to them political weapons!!

23. Thanks HK and Choma1 for enlightening us. But let’s keep civil. ZAMTEL is a viable company if management deficiencies can be addressed. Protectionism just for the sake of it is detrimental to development. [A good example is Western Province which is well endowed with resources but remains the poorest province according to the poverty statistics that CSO churns out periodically due to protectionism; that’s besides the point.] If ZAMTEL were serious, they could make it mandatory for every house to have a telephone and ethernet connection; that is a minimum of 2 million guaranteed subscribers! Then all these wankers (oops! I mean, other companies) can pay ZAMTEL to use their facilities!

24. Well researched strategic direction is the way here. Often GRZ has made decisions on the premise of what is happening in RSA UK ETC. But Zambia is not UK or RSA. Lets compare apples with apples.Overliberalisation & some privatisations and mining deals that were made are typical examples.Undoing some of these bad decisions has been too late and sometimes impossible. ZCC is right to represent the consumer but they are only looking at one side of the coin. There good intentions may backfire as did the tax concessions to mining firms or sell of Maamba coal to Benicon of RSA. There is no subsitute for well informed and researched decisions.That research for stategic direction is what is lacking

25. If Zamtel is a parasite (sorry parastal) that is chewing GDP than it is generating or indeed slowing growth then someting ought to be done to correct the problem and security should not be an excuse. BUT that action must take cognisant local of macroeconomic conditions and other Political,Economic,Social,Technological(PEST) Factors

26. A starting point would be to do a case study of a country in the Third World especially Africa (does someone have an example) that has liberalised its international gateway. Look at the framework in which this was done, the benefits, the pitfalls and how they were resolved or difficulties in fixing them. But please dont use countries like UK AND RSA as case studies. We are too far apart to make any meaningful comparisons.

27. The future lies in disbundling Zamtel’s various business units (GSM, Fixed Lines, Switching, IP, Consultancy, technical Services), floating 51% shares to the public and institutional investors. The cash thus realised can be channelled towards business remodelling and modernisation. Its all nonsense that such a viable venture should be loss making and rely on taxpayers’ money through Governement handouts.

28. A reminder to all the readers, please whenever we are writting down all sorts of comments respect should be paramount regardless of your age, status and position in the society. bad language will bring up a lot of things in the nearest future.

29. be mature pipo when comenting not like munthu who has got Diareah of the mounth.bonse ndimwe ba bakuulu pliz tapapata.

30. we need to find out how much of the contributions reach the intended.how about census or billboard advertisments to encourage patronage to the web site as a way of disemination and enlightment of the public. we need more than ever feed back guys on our contributions.

31. Two points from me, there is nothing wrong with a parastatal if it is operating profitably, creating employment and providing a valuable service. I have always argued that privatization does not necessarily equal lower prices and efficient services.ZAMTEL, like its cousin ZESCO, has potential to be a profitable business,but govt must decide if they want to keep ZAMTEL as an old loss making relic, or back off and hire performance based management, give them a blank check and let them deliver. IF they choose the latter, there is no need to protect ZAMTEL from anything. Second point, private operators in Zambia have not demonstrated that if they are given enabling incentives they would lower

32. prices. The current high cost of domestic local calls on mobile phones in Zambia is not justified because the providers do not switch those calls through the international gateway so why arent these prices coming down? So while i support calls for ZAMTEL to be subjected to competition by freeing the gateway, i also contend that pressure should be exerted on the competing private providers to lower the prices of their services at least for local calls

33. Clap Clap Clap.. Kulibonesha, A++…
    We need our govt to start thinking and not being defensive and being protectonist. If their objective is to have a white elephant, let it be,,but let them put regulations which do not stiffle competetion. I believe though the efficiency of Zamtel or the next operator would push the prices down or would create more competetition.

34. #32 Kulibonesha. Good point on why local calls are so expensive in Zambia and yet they dont go through a gateway. Service by some networks is below par. Too congested. Focus seems to be on advertsing, some of it misleading for that matter.

35. The international gateway issue is not a magic wand that will resolve telecoms problems.The problem needs a holistic approach.

36. As you know folks Communications Authority has called bids for a fourth provider. So we might get a fourth provider and even higher prices before they sort out the congestion, prices and dropped call problems of the current 3 providers. Theoretician, i think you are right, the volume of advertising is so high and it must cost so much budget to fund these adverts that the only way to keep up is by fleecing us more on the recharge cards. For you guys who live in developed economies, i thought entry of new players in markets – such as low cost airlines – helps to bring prices down, why does this model not work at home?

37. The Price will not go down, till each operator faces declining increase in Subscriber numbers and dimishing or lower ARPU . In that way, the operator will start creating products and services which will attract low revenue base to make up for the loss or static Revenues.
    The only way to do this is to set up benchmarks per operator. Let say, by year 2010 Zamtel should have at least 500K subs and 1,000 sites, celtel 3million subs and 2,000 sites, MTN 2 million subs and 1, 500 sites. this way, the penetration level will grow based on the Licence benchmarks.
    Congestion is a good indicator that, an operator has potential and can grow more. I use that all the time.

38. The Survey shows that, Zambia Mobile subs base is almost 8 million potential( including persons averaging of 10-12 years old). The price is usually dicted by saturation or near saturation of services,. In this case, we should be targeting 75-85% of the population having access to communication devices of some sort.
    There is still plent of capcity in Zed market even to attract a Fourth and fifth operator..

39. Let us be honest Zambia is a very small market to accomodate more than three operators. 11.5 million people is the number of subscribers for mobile phone operators in some countries. zamtel should just get out of the mobile business and concentrate on fixed line. BT, Deutsche Telekom and France Telekom iniatially made the same mistake but they were intelligent enough to get rid of their mobile units to concentrate on fixed lines and broadband services.

40. #39 I am in agreement with you. Cant Zamtel develop some innovative products though apart from just voice? I think thier infrastructural position could give them an advantage to push broadband and other data services. The return on such an investment could be higher than grinding it out with mobile competitors who have a sperior branding and marketing edge, not to mention deployed base stations, over Cell Z that pulls subscribers to them. Moreover i learnt that the chinese equipment that Zametl opted for has now come back to haunt them as it has serious expansion limitations compared to their competitors who have wetern equipment such as siemens

41. Here I have minimal understanding of telecoms. But here are my observations regarding Zamtel. 1, they were the last ones to go GSM although they had technical advantage. 2, they remain the most expensive mobile provider. 3, they are the only mobile provider not providing browser facility. 4, they are among the most expensive internet providers and the most unreliable, 5, their workers look most uninspired poor and impolite. 6, their workers have highest number of industrial actions and even yesterday they nearly went on strike. 7, they have been destroying roads in Lusaka, God knows who has benefited from such trenches. 8, I did not know they prevent other telecoms companies from expansion t

42. 8, I did not know they prevent other telecoms companies from expansion till now

    I have been enlightened by you guys particularly HK. I conclude this misplaced protectionism. I also think Mr. Kaira is a polite man. He should have said that Zamtel is not useful.

43. My take on this is that Zamtel should continue to be protected and should always be a major player in the telecoms sector. The issue of security is also very real, vital key information can be obtained which could undermine the operations of a modern government that will depend more and more on telecoms as years go by. Clearly it would be foolish in my opinion to privatise such strategic assets. I don’t buy the ‘more competition means lower prices for consumers’ hype. It seems there is a conspiracy to destroy anything ‘national’ in the name of consumer protection or interests. There are a lot of mergers going in the private sector and very soon we will have just one global telecoms corp.

44. It seems to me that the idea is to get all ‘strategic national assets’ from gov’t hands into private hands in the name of lowering counsumer costs and innovation. The real reason is greed by the rich to take anything money can buy. A living example of this is the mining sector. Has privatisation meant more jobs, lower or access to copper among Zambians, has it meant more money and jobs for Zambians? Is Zambia benefiting the current private sector driven mining? Some might say there are some benefits but I think we (Zambia) could be benefiting more if these assets had remained in national hands.Zambia remains at risk because if the people don’t benefit this can be a security issue.

45. GRZ by over reling on funds they get from Zamtel are too short shighted to see that by liberlisibg the gateways, though they will lose some money initally ,but the country will benifit in the long run. security my ass, in this day of terrorisim, all goverments put an emphasis on having monitoring at all strategic points. So the securiry issue is a none starter. It is too do with ” the pie is too sweet now, why share” because of the rich easy pickings by GRZ of Zamtel funds, they don’t see beyond their noses to the future of what benifits libralisation can bring.
    don’t copmpare the privatisation of the mines, that was during FJT’s years. The lost yeras for zambia.

46. I want to disagree with #31 Kulibonesha. On first view his points appear to be valid. Yes there is nothing wrong with a healthy parastatal but from a statistical standpoint we find 100% Govt owned companies are rarely ever healthy even when they are sitting on a gold mine. The middle ground solution is for govt to relinquish a significant percentage of ownership to the public via floating of shares. The idea is to circumscribe govt’s wholesome control so that the company can run with a profit rather than political motive at least most of the time. In a way its a defensive move guaranteeing that professionals will run the company without any undue influence prevalent in parastatals

47. Coming to high prices. In a capitalist system such as our the primary regulator of prices are market forces, specifically demand ,supply and competition. For prices to really go down there would be need for Comms authority(CAZ) to deregulate as much as possible so that entrepreneurs are free to implement other methods especially for the voice service. Apparently voice over IP(VOIP)is currently illegal for other operators in Zambia and yet this is the same technology everybody is using for cheap voice solutions both local and international in other countries. Competition from VOIP could force these mobile operators to rethink their pricing strategy.

48. Acquiring licences to operate international gateways by telecomunication providers may be a good idea but the question which still remains to be answered is that how are zambians going to benefit from this whole thing . Is communication say on the internet and on the phone going to be cheaper. How about in the area of national security wont there be a compromise.We need to look at these questions first.

49. Security is not an issue. The freedom of information bill if inacted has more potential of compromising security than opening up Zamtel. The issue is about making a sound decision that we wont regret as a nation (like the concessioning of Zambia Railways). This requires careful research,(case studies) analysis, planning and some legal safeguards that will allow changing or revoking altogether the arrangement(without penalties) if it turns out to be inimical to our interests. Often we have squeezed ourselves between a rock and a hard place in agreements that we made with foreign companies. This must be avoided.

50. Zamtel has 94 000 landline subscribers. Half of these use the lines for free. And most of these free loaders are in government, state institutions and quasi government organisations. This is the reason why Levi Mwanawasa and co. want to maintain the status quo with regard to Zamtel.
    If Zamtel were to be privatised or listed on the stock exchange this nonsense would stop becoz no shareholder would want to provide free services and lose money. Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya have liberalised their international gateways. This has resulted in cheaper international calls to and from these countries.

51. Comparing zambia to south africa is simply obscure, the reason why S.A is doing well is because its own people are developing the country and the government is assisting the local businesses and that way their economy gets to grow.unlike zambia which looks to privatising almost all its companies in the name of creating competition for the locals when all they do is kill the local indutries.Laws should be put in place that stop transnational companies from being able to run freely,just like china did by creating zones where transnational companies could not operate and in so doing their government helped the local businesses and created state run industries which created more jobs for locals.

52. and today we say the chinese are hard working! its because they know how to help their people do well.

53. mwe fi puba, finshi mule laka?
    PhD mentality yali fula saana pa zed…

    Iwe chi Kay (#51), the reason SA is doing well is because there are so many educated Zambian (plus ama foreigner) running the show. I can easily give you a list of degreed Zambian aba bomba pa SA(Mzansi), hard men and women intellectually. If fima local know nothing at all. Moneni naka sungu ati “obscure”.. dont try to be like Kafupi Boi.

54. wa be T chik..ala.. #51

55. I’m very disappointed with the attitude of #54. if you’re going to make a point, then make a point. do not prey on the freedom of “expression” made by others. im a zambian living and working outside zambia in a Billion Dollar telecommunication industry. In Australia to be precise. Doing business in zambia is hard,its just as hard as doing business anywhere else in the world; you just require a different set of skills altogether. from my experience,i believe its important for zambia to maintain a centralised telecommunication system, as it is doing right now. however its the competition commissions job to make sure that these “illegal” restrictions that make it hard for other telecom…

56. …do not exist. thats why they are there. we are yet to develope a culture that is both honest and service oriented.

57. One needs to research if in the developed world where telecomms is advanced all the existing providers are using difference gate ways to make international calls. Where these companies are coming from, the IGW is not what they want to be here. Surely, there must be somethings which we should call ours. in the event that these companies winding up business in zambia, they will go with their equipment and what is ours will remain ours. What is needed at ZAMTEL is to address issues of management not appointing people based on the family tree or political inclinations. This is the thing that has destroyed the company. Left to be run by proffesionals this company ha potential.

58. There is alot of ignorance as regards the issues in the telecoms sector on this market but i must say i am impressed by the commitment and passion in the contributions.Gateways,GSM etc have very complex logistics behind them.Local prices being very expensive but they dont go through a gateway?? please,what do you call the switch which your calls go through.Its cost is just as staggering.To get a $12m license for the IGW is not cost effective,it is cheaper to still use the Zamtel gateway and pay Zamtel for the use.Hence the $12m remains a barrier to entry and for as long as it is there,costs for international calls cant go down coz the private operators have to pay Zamtel for every intl call

59. it is a gr8 time to share thoughts,opinions and other issues affecting us.sad to those who fail to express there inteligency but end up to write insults on this blog.bamo bailanga ubupumpu bwabo and from here you can even tell that we have failed to develope our own country coz such people are even in big position.

60. the fact is there is no way we will say that zamtel is not making money.the company is making hug sum of profit,the unfortunate part is that zamtel is operating without long term objectives,you can tell from a distance the company has no vision.this applies to zesco too.

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