The government’s plan to break up the financially troubled Zambia Telecommunication Co. (Zamtel) in a bid to save it from collapsing is moving forward, as company officials move ahead on a financial management plan.
Zamtel acting CEO Mukela Muyunda said last week that the government wants to separate CellZ from Zamtel. CellZ, a mobile service company, is Zamtel’s sister company, operating under Zamtel management for more than 10 years. The Zambian government wants the two companies separated so that they can be operated under different management.
“The government is working at ways of unbundling the company so that it is operated efficiently and effectively,” Muyunda said.
Early this month, Zamtel workers went on strike for almost a week after learning that management was planning to lay off 800 workers in a bid to save the company. In addition, the company froze wages this year.
The company management and the National Union of Communications Workers (NUCW), a union that represents telecommunication workers , have agreed on a monthly program to reduce the deficit through March of next year. The company management has since halted the planned retrenchment of workers but has instead cut down foreign travel of directors as part of the program.
Up to now, Zamtel management has not explained why the company has not been profitable despite providing fixed, mobile-phone and Internet services, and collecting revenue from other service providers for facilities including the Mwembeshi satellite station.
A senior government official, however, told IDG News Service that the government — through its various ministries — owes Zamtel billions of Kwacha in unpaid telephone and Internet bills.
[IDG News Service]
Excellent. i am available to lead CellZ to presperity
Zambians cant run big organisations or companies.Lets hope they will send the right guyz to cell z or else that would be the end.The mobile industry is very dynamic and fast.there sholdnt be form threes there
Great ideal! Hopeful it will not be given to foreign infestors, Zedians should be given the first change!
kachepa has it that Vodacom is interested. Yaba twafwa. were do we go wrong? Guys its true Zambia is infested. whats the procedure? May be we bloggers should team up and buy the cell Z ha ha ha ha tingalumane.
Why R U always quick to rule out foreigners, Anonymouse? When indeed we all know that they are more capable than most Zambians. Indians, for example, don’t play around on the job. They are serious and commited when it comes to running a company – did you ever think TATA Motors, an Indian co. would come and buy off Jaguar, the British pride?
How can a monopoly (on fixed line) like Zamtel make losses? I think it has to do with bad management because all over Africa Telecoms are the most profitable companies look at MTN, Vodacom etc.
#shidala, zamtel has been making loses because of corruption.
Zamtel needs well learned individuals in its management to carry it forward. People who went only upto form 2 or 5 can not compete with University graduates.
People who did not make it to university schooling don’t have certain strategic plans that instil discipline and focus in their activities.
How do you expect a form 5 to see sense in sponsoring his workers and other upcoming young people to university for specialist training which is needed in a company?
#5 Bcoz I dream of the day when all major companies will be run by Zedians like our British colonial masters!!
The issue is govt. Why cant it pay for services provided by these companies? Yet they are quick to pay private companies in good time? So Zambians are capable but they are let down by the govt for failing to pay for the service in good time. I have been paying zamtel for both the land line, cell Z and zamtel online services on time every month, and am sure many other private persons have been, but govt undoubtedly is one of the major customers and if they dont pay, am afraid whoever will be in charge may fail to efficiently/effectively manage the company. So its not about Zambians being incompetent. Other rival companies have by and large Zambians in charge, but they are producing results.
I’m available to take over Zamtel part. Nadya maningi ndalama za BT !!!
# People running govt are Zambians hence the issue of incomptence or lack of vision
Maybe the same should happen to ZESCO. I propose ZESCO be disbundled and then formed into two different companies. One solely responsible for power generation and the other for power distribution. It seems gone are the days when we could boast of Zambians themselves running such big companies like the then ZCCM.
However I am impressed with the change in our mindset going by the contributions by most bloggers here. We must own these companies as Zedians. Unfortunate most of our political leaders are lagging behind in understanding these changes. They still want to perpetrate the begger mentality.
good idea i think telecom campanies are not supposed to make a loss what has gone wrong at Zamtel? Cell Z should not be put in hands people who not able to run it. It is time for amazedians to arise and invest in our own industries. No more infesters.
Guys you are all missing the point here. The problem here is not just management. It is government. Like with all para-statal organisations, politicians are all over it. They appoint management. They tell management who to employ and who to fire. Government departments are the biggest customers and yet they do not pay their bills. Any ambitious manager would rather work for a private company where they will have the freedom to shine. Right now there are some brilliant Zambian managers in the private sector. Until companies like ZESCO, ZCCM, ZAMTEL, etc are free of political interference, they will all end up in foreign hands. Donors will force us to sell them off to the highest bidders.
#15 you are very right.I sign up with you
Uni. graduates yes, although I know that there is a good number of employees with more than just a first uni degree in Zamtel. Some of them with PHDs. So where lies the problem? Whereas education may be part of the reason along side corruption and nepotism (worsened esp in the recent few years), GRZ should begin paying for the services in good time.
Zamtel like ZESCO was milked dry by Kafupi wa Bufi, unbundling, no need to sweat this out, at some point it used to be PTC, they unbundled it into ZAMPOST and ZAMTEL, there is nothing new about this, it is already a fine line drawn, Cell Z can stand on its own and the main zamtel can operate the international gateway and broadcasting and whatever else they do which I do not know. I know Mukela very well and he is a hardworking young man, I used to know the former MD for Zamtel who was an engineer through and through and almost drove the company into the ground because of capital investment. The good side is that now Zamtel has fiber optic which is not the best technology around…
…but obviously better than most technologies available which are not very reliable most of the time.
people, Zamtel has a very interesting structure. If I remember correctly, anyone who is a SENOIR ENGINEER from the Telecommunications Division is in Zamtel-Management. This has nothing or little to do with GRZ.
However, I appreciate the fact that the Zamtel director or whatever he is called is appointed by GRZ or atleast his appointment is backed by the government.
While GRZ has its share of so-called interference in the operations of Zamtel, the company management has to be bold sometimes and stand by sound principles that will have the company’s interests at heart. This is where university qualifications come in for graduates are not easily intimidated like forms 5z.
You know I think sometimes we over estimate our politicians and want to blame everything on them. How can one explain the strides Napsa has made in the recent past after Chibumba was appointed DG. The man has made drastic changes, closed a few departments, put deadlines for payment of gratuities and claims, he has performed a serious shakeup in top management but NAPSA is a parastatal, so sometimes its juts a good manager, Mwansa of ZESCO operated under very difficult times but how come we had no power cuts? So sometimes bantu fye and nothing else.
hi y is it that zambians fail to run any kind of company because they a thives and want to steal all the time and enploy their brothers and sisters and all others even thouge u dont need them all things of this kind dont help the companys i i m a zambian and work for Bt here in Uk
Zamtel can not really tick as it falls under the Ministry of Transport and communication.Look at its body of Directors first.The failure Zamtel is facing is due the the failure by its board and the Ministry of Transport and communication to set up goals,stardards and principles to which Zamtel is supposed to adhere.
I agree with # 2 tho with shame,Zambians have failed to run big parastatals.
Even the so called intellectuals immediately after appointment they rush 2 get loans & tours getting per diem.Jst look @ UNZA wen thr ws a white man more recently.ZESCO,ZAMTEL,ZRA, & the biggest example Zambia itself
Making a loss!!!!!!!!!!! Why??????????????? Have they been funding political activities like by elections or is it encompetance??????????
its really a shame indeed,i agree with #24.look at the current ZESCO MD (Sisala), just after being appointed as MD he rushed to get a K1bn loan to buy a house.
Zamtel, ZESCO, State House, etc are all useless and ineffective entities because of poor management.
I am not surprised that ZAMTEL is being broken into two companies. Why doesn’t the GRZ break up ZESCO into three companies – 1. Power Generation, 2. Distribution, and 3. Revenue / Finance collection.
This had to be done at one point.And the earlier the better, telcoms all around the world are struggling, as Cellphone, 3G, etc have shrunk their markets.Who needs a land line these days ? Yes except for business, pipo have gone mobile.Then there are high maintanance costs of phone line due to theft, vandals, etc.If managed correctly and good re-capitalization Zamtel can grow.GRZ still owes them billions … Charity begins at home.I work for a telecoms so sounds familiar, we are also in the same process.
It is suprising that a company like zamtel can cramble. Lets look for capable people with ideas which will help the company. A tele communication company has a lot to offer.
No foreigners pliz!!we need to run this company and bring it back to life!great move though I don’t understand how you chaps could be cash strapped!
#21 with all due respect, while mwansa of zesco appeared to do a good job-I need you to know that he was practically assisted by The Late John Wright, who if you ask any employee of the company that worked with him throughout his 22 year career with the company,including our good MD mwansa, they will tell you that indeed that man was a miracle worker and the longest serving director of the company. i tell you that if we had more zambians as committed as he was,the work place in zambia would be a different place. I would urge young zambians to look up the lives of some of these “leaders in the work place” and to tyr emulate them..zambians can manage,government fails us..
I knew John Wright personally when I was a young boy, maybe from round about child birth to 7 or so he was friends with my family before we shifted to elsewhere. He was really dedicated to his work.
As of Mwansa, I think you was a physicist, a physics graduate, by background. That is why he had a powerful way of analysing issues and implementing them well.
As for Zamtel, the major problem is that most bosses there rose through the ranks from trainnee techician to say MD. This sort of doing things was cool in the old days, but now we have expertise in exposed university graduates who can deliver.
Some of these so called graduates leave much to be desired…!
#33,Dont say so-called graduates.My friend if u havent gone to campus or attined higher education thats ur own problem.an educated person has a broader sense of thinking unlike a mere form five.The pattern of hinking difers.
sorry sbout my spellings.I shake when am annoyed
Why am I not supprised at this news? How does anybody expect a company to be profitable when its owed Billions of Kwachas by Gvt? You can have the best brains there is running the company, as long as these companies (Zamtel & Zesco) remain un-commercialised, forget about profitability. I don’t even think separating Cell-Z from Zamtel will help anything, all they need to do is sell of 51% of the stake to private hands who will be able to cut services to gvt institutions that do not pay bills. If you look at Zesco’s books, you will find the same situation.
pls it is a joke that the companies r makeing a losse some one is STEALING CASH AND BIG TIME but y steal it is your own companies so y steal ZAMTEL should b makeing big time money so is ZESCO KABALALA
Ndola woman picked up for threatening Zamtel MD
POLICE in Lusaka are questioning a Ndola woman for allegedly threatening the life of Zamtel acting managing director Mukela Muyunda.
The woman, who is also a Zamtel employee, allegedly used her mobile phone to threaten Mr Muyunda for announcing that the company would retrench about 800 workers to streamline the operations of the firm.
Lusaka Police commanding officer, Greenwell Ng’uni confirmed that police were investigating the case of the Zamtel employee.
“It is true we are investigating the case of alleged calls to threaten the Zamtel managing director’s life. Threatening someone’s life is a very serious offence, but I cannot give
#34,35-Shimpundu. Dont get annoyed. This is just a blog where we share ideas. Otherwise, you are right. Whoever has passed through university is armed with certain abilitie and can understand issues in a broader sense. Take it easy.
zambia will always be zambia.
Many in Zambia (intellectauls too)dont have the culture or discipline to run business. Our society is collective & our post independence experiment with socialism has left an indelible trait of expecting free things. Add to this corruption & nepotism & firms’structure, strategy cannot compete with astute rivals in the private sector. Worse unpaid govt debt drains the company #15 is spot on.We are fooling ourselves to believe that we can run parasites OOPS I meant parastatals in such an indiciplined & collective, free expections culture. Let the private sector have a controlling stake. Unbundling for sake it will only increase overhead cost unless the intention is to seek a strategic partner
The absence of business atuteness in our culture needs to be compensated for in the education system. I have seen social science graduates, scientist engineers who are just technical grunts and have no business sense at all and they are running institutions. What is lacking in our culture, entreprenuership astuteness, thriftness can be learned via formal education.Ask yourself? Why is that Chinese 100% govt companies come to Africa build roads, dams, mine minerals etc and make profits.But we fail do do it on home soil.
The Zambian govt has milked Zamtel too much such that all the milk is finished hence the company has started releasing blood.There so mush interference by the govt in the running of Zamtel. The telephone and internet bills are so high which the govt owes the company. The office phones in the most of the govt ministries are used for private businesses. Sometimes even when it is official phone call the minister will talk indefinitely not being conscious of the bill. Such luxury is not their in developed countries. This applies to vehicles where you find a govt official has three to four vehicles running on govt fuel.
The landline side (Zamtel) will suffer. We don’t use landlines much, nowadays. Even businesses are begining to use cell phones.
By the way, this coment was posted via cell phone.
Mwansa was operating during a period when the customer base for ZESCO was still low. It is different now with increased demand. remember the current load shedding is due to the ongoing power rehabilitation projects. Mwansa never experienced any of this.
Zamtel is run by govt thats y they can neva b disconected if they r owin k20b. political apointments r kilin our country. simon says jump.. u ask how high. nepotism anotha kiler its like cancer.
To those that have not read all the comments, skim through #s 10, 30, 41, 42, and 43. The pointers raised are worth noting and practiced by those that have an interest in developing Zed. We are all together in this. Yes, it is wrong for the government to owe the phone company large sums of money in unpaid bills. In this case if Zamtel workers realize that the company is making profit on paper but money is nowhere to be seen, they have a right to voice out their anger to management and government. This can be done in a nonviolent manner two ways by picketing and disconnecting phone service to the minitries that are not making an effort to clear the debt.
Let’s not forget that after working hard people must be compensated for their energy. It is wrong to deprive them of this right to a pay raise when a profit is made. The other thing I see that encourages misuse of the phone at places of work is the fact that workers do not have phones in their homes because the cost for such a service is prohibitive for their small earnings. The phone company must come up with a way of making phone service available cheaply 24/7 in all residential areas including shanties and villages.
Zamtel cannot operate in the vicious and competitive environment. Am glad the govt has felt the effect of competition though it cannot change its political appointing strategy. Even though zamtel is split into two nothing will change this situation coz it is the same govt. The only redeemer for zamtel is to sell 51% share so that the govt has no full control.
The monopoly mentality should come to an end especially colonial old people still in zamtel
But don’t forget that zambians do poor work at times.
What about the infrastructure? Are going to see shifting of switching and transmission equioment from Zamtel premises to else for CelZ? Is it going to be feasible to operate two independent companies sharing the same build-up of equipment?
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