Press release by Zain Zambia
Zain Zambia wishes to respond to the quite alarming, unfounded and misleading allegations attributed to its operation in a news article titled “Zain Zambia scraps low cost talk time” and published on the Watchdog and Zamnet websites today.
It is unfortunate to see this level of mis-representation by the author of the news story in question, which runs contrary to the normally factual Zambian journalism profession.
Zain has not ‘scrapped’ its “Iliyonse” offering, which remains the most affordable way in Zambia to to buy talk time, and from as little as K200. The inference seems to be that “Iliyonse” is ‘scratch-card’ based and that these are no longer in the market. The fact is, that ‘Illiyonse’ is based on a mobile top up platform which does not require any physical scratch cards.
Separately from ‘Illiyonse’, Zain tested the market with physical scratch-card low-denominations of K1,000 and K2,000; these were in fact a ‘first’ from Zain to enable access our talk time affordable to more segments of our customers.
These lower K1,000 and K2,000 talk time denominations introduced on the market in a limited manner at first, to see how they would be received by customers. Zain was pleased to find that there was an overwhelmingly positive response. Therefore as might be expected, Zain is now going to roll-out these cards nationwide.
It is hoped that the facts of the ‘scratch-card’ matters raised are now clear.
In terms of the ‘visibility’ of Illiyonse, it is true that now this product is well known and truly into the market, Zain has now started communications about its latest innovations in tariffs, which we feel are of extreme importance and interest to our customers.
Zain reduced or re-aligned all its tariffs, and automatically ensured all its customers calls were rated from November 1st on these new tariffs so as to to make Zain the most affordable way in Zambia to call. It is natural too, that when this is of such personal and positive importance to Zain’s customers budget, Zain wants to tell them the good news in every way it can! This is why Zain sent SMS messages to its customers informing them of the good news.
As this sending of an SMS is a mechanically automated process, it may be that a few of Zain’s customers received more than one SMS, and it is regretted if this happened. Zain has no records from its call centre about customer complaints in this respect for this particular tariff campaign however.
Therefore as the real facts now clearly show no basis whatsoever for these unprovoked allegations, it should also be clear that smooth transition to David Holliday, the new CEO of Zain Zambia from the long-serving David Venn, who had held the post for over 5 years, was nothing more than ‘business as usual’. There was and is, no ‘confusion’ in the equation.
Finally as far as quoting Richard Mwanza as saying CAZ accuses Zain of ‘stealing’ is concerned, Zain has no knowledge of this accusation, and therefore cannot comment on the same.
Viva Cell zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Zain is the most useless network pa Zed!!!
The is no talk of the connection fee!!! The claim is they are the “cheapest” is bull, anyone who tries to call cross network knows it.
When talking of being cheap let us be holistic
The problem is people just work up from boarding school with school leavers ball hungovers and become journalists.These are the consequencies. We must regulate the Media so that only qualified journalist are employed by our media institutions both private and state owned.
#2 you are right, now that it is festive season their network will become so useless that you can’t even communicate. What we want them to assure us is that there will be no congestions in their network or we better leave them in peace.
Zain is taking us for granted. I wonder why our President has been quiet all this time. Does he not have the b%lls to stand up to fake chaps!
Baby C, i dissagree with you on that. if Zain was useless alot of people were going to switch networks from Zain to another network. Please give credit where its due. everyone who has a cellphone in Zambia has more Zain numbers of people than anyother network, and that answers everything. Zain please you are doing fine and we are behind you. No one will convince us otherwise
ZAIN its high time you improved your service delivery, majority of your subscribers are getting leap service.Its difficult or almost impossible to make or receive a call especially lunch hour.Friday after 17 hours its worse. Right now im failing to access Zed.
Anyone who is not happy can go for other networks. You have freedom of choice, but to me Zain nizee
#6 Ghostrider
What do you want the president to do about Zain? Is he the one who bought you the sim card? there is Cell Z, MTN and Lanlines if Zain doesnt treat you right move on to MTN or Cell Z. if these cant help then try Landline why should the president be involved in your Choices. The power to change zain lies in you the customers and not the president, our friends in europe do boycott against a product and things change. Zambians whats wrong with us we always expect the politicians even to put security lights at our own gates.
:)] I wonder why people are stil with Zain its the waste of all networks.
Babychris, Muli mu Zambia, why pretend to be abroad? I thought local is laka.
Much as Zain has a wider network coverage they need to work on the quality and intelligence of the same network. Imagine seated next to your wife and calling her number when you are wide awake of the fact that her cellphone is on and being told that, ‘the subscriber you are calling is either outside the coverage area or has their phone switched off’. Complete crap. Guys who owe me money and are on Zain are always giving excuses that they are not reachable due to network problems. Even when you reach them they just pretend that they can’t get you properly owing to the poor Zain network. Zain is a hinderance to doing business. Better work on the quality of network as quantity does not matter.
He said Holiday Inn is their new CEO. Oh no!
But Zain customers are always outside coverage area or have their phones switched off. Why? They should improve on this.
Cell z ni Ziii, cetll zain whatever their is there just thieves, baletulila amasuku pamutwe after the tax insentive period is over they change names and managers flee the country. bu l l sh iiiii ttt:-w
though i use this network, its true that Zain is a useless network provider, i’d urge all people using Zain network to consider going to MTN or Cell Z, come xmass day, there will be no communicating on Zain
Good for clarifying your stance.
Sorry to sound out of touch but who is Zain?
#13UMWINA KALALE
so why are you still with Zain?
#18 it was Celtel
#18. Zain is a net work provider formely known as CELTEL
Imwe bantu, don’t know that zain should just rename and rebrand themselves to just plain ole PAIN!! They really are! :-w
Zain is a crap network. I’ve been trying to call a couple of people all morning and can’t get through to their mobiles. The high number of subscribers they have is as a function of their early expansion drive when Zamcell/Celtel entered the Zambian market. They covered most parts of Zambia before Telecel/MTN and Cell Z. This resulted in many people joining their network for the simple reason that most people they know subscribe the same network.
Today, anyone in Zambia that buys a sim card will consider Zain purely for that reason. It has nothing to do with the network’s quality which is appalling.
#18 Global View – just stick to MTN! there is no hope for PAIN!
18
Zain is one of the cellphone service provider in zambia. In the past they have been popular for changing names from ZAMCELL TO CELTEL NOW TO ZAIN. OF LATE THEY ARE KNOWN FOR A WIDESPREAD NETWORK WHICH HAS A POPULAR CATION WHEN EVER YOU CALL A SUBSCRIBER ON THE NETWORK THAT , ‘THE SUBSCRIBER YOU ARE CALLING IS EITHER OUTSIDE THE COVERAGE AREA OR HAS THEIR PHONE SWITCHED OFF’. EVEN WHEN THE CALLED NUMBER IS IN YOU OTHER HAND OR PALM. THEY RUN A LOT OF COMPETITIONS AND ZAMBIANS BEING PRONE TO GETTING RICH QUICKLY ARE ALWAYS STICKING TO THE NETWORK WITH THE HOPE OF WINNING BIG IN THE NUMEROUS COMPETITIONS THEY RUN.
NGANI LELO ZAIN NAILUKA SINCE MORNING NO COMMUNICATION FROM EITHER LAND OR OTHER NETWORKS.BUSHE NISHI AIII???????
#23 try Cell Z you will never go wrong.
#18 Zain is Celtel
#27 Mulamu. You are right. I’ve noticed that the quality of the Cell Z and MTN network’s are much higher than that of Zain. Unfortunately, most of the Zambian mobile numbers I dial are subscribed to Zain.
#26 why are you still with Zain kanshi? leave them insted of you complaining the whole day. ma sim card niyochipa get one and stop behaving as though you need millions to buy a new sim card from other networks.
Useless network. These thieves and the impotent Communications authority are making our lives difficult. too much nonsense in zambia.
19
THERE YOU GO AGAIN MY BROTHER ENGINES. READ MY BLOG, I DID NOT SAY I AM ON ZAIN BUT THAT I DO CALL MY WIFE’S NO AS SHE IS ON ZAIN AND THE GUYS WHO OWE ME BUCK I DO CALL USING MY MTN AND CELL Z. MOSTLY I AM A USER OF CELL Z. I USE MTN MOSTLY FOR MY INTERNET, LIKE RIGHT NOW.
#6 pliz mind your language and remember what the Bible says about respecting elders.However you are right about ZAIN.they are eating our money
Hi Baby C,
#32 how’s the bandwidth/speed on MTN?
Those who doesnt want have a choice to go for yellow or cell z. us its abaleya Zain. Plus today i have recieved my bonus, ni zee. :-c
#36 I can see you are so much into Zain.:-? ndiwe share holder:-
Rashid
Zain doent deserve any praises. The reason why they have many customers is because they know how to market themselves,not that their network is the best. they ve got good marketing skills which draws most people to their network. Even our local network, Celz is far much better than Zain.
or on Zain? Cell Z their website doesn’t even work ala…
#34 Chile
am fine you??
Cell Z has poor coverage once you move from towns, Celtel/Zain has tried to cover the entire nation. So, just stick in there with Zain. 😉
Baby C, on which network are you? everything has advantages and dissadvantages.
35
WHEN YOU ARE ON SITES LIKE LT WHICH HAVE NOT MUCH GRAPHICS YOU GET UP TO 10KB/s. HOWEVER THE SPEEDS ARE NOT RELIABLE ON SITES WITH A LOT OF PICTURES AND WHEN THE NETWORK BARS WHICH GO UP TO 5 ARE 3 OR BELOW. OTHERWISE NOT BAD FOR BLOGGING UNTO LT, EMAILING IN GMAIL AND YAHOO.
I’ve got shares in Zain but the price has lamentably failed on LuSE, I delayed in disposing them, anyone to advise, will they rise again or I lost my pension :((
ZAIN I am sure is owned by FTJ,mmmm FAUSTIN KABWE, mmmm XEVIOUR CHUNGU, mmmmm STELLA CHIBANDA, mmmmmmmm KATELE KALUMBA, mmmmmmmm AARON CHUNGU, mmmmm etc and they are punishing Zambians for persecuting them. If they are cleared by the courts ZAIN will provide us the best service you ever imagined.
Rashid
Why???????
Yes please try Cell Z **==
Lets support our local team, go cell Z
Baby c, nothing, just want to know. Any sorry out of topic, im very depressed and sad that NKANA FC was demoted again. Im trying to encquire if i can buy that club cause i love it together with Man U more than i love my guza.
Thanks #43
Zain is only interested in numbers. they want to hit 10million subcsribers and yet nothing is being done to upgrade their system!!!
Just get 3 sims Baby C so you can switch…
#13 why would you be calling your wife when she’s right next to you? There in lies the problem with network congestions!!!!! 🙁
LOL @ #53 ha ha! You are so right…
#45 Lambourgini – i love it! Very funny! But the punishment is too much! =))
last week i received an sms from zambia, that sms kept coming from last monday until sunday , it came every other 15 to 20min, for 7days,do the maths, its about 672smses, it drove me crazy , called them, had to go through the annoying voice machine. if i was in zambia would have given zain a kick in the ass!!
#52 Sony
i ve got three sims dear, its just that most of my friends are on your zain
#53, that is a Zambian for you!!!!!!! =))very interesting the way we do stuff.
Guys, lets give credit where it is due. Zain has empowered a lot of Zambian schools through Build Our Nation project, it has empowered musicians like Star search and goes with most of them on road trips, who knew Kaliwa before Celtel/Zain?, when all companies failed to pay for Rabecca Malope’s trip to Zain it was Zain that came to the aid, it also sponsors traditional ceremonies these are just a few. Now tell me, what has MTN done apart from the 1 million kwacha everyday which Zain has beaten by giving 3 million kwacha everyday? What do you want kanshi?
#57 I know my dear, me too, it’s too confusing. They just need to deregulate so it gets cheaper and better
ESK, Dont worry my friend.It looks as if the Zain share price has dropped very much but the thing is the subscription base for Zain is too much and this makes a slit drop in the price to look big. my brother ZAin shares have alot of potential, so dont worry coz very soon you will be smilling.
Ba Rashid you seem to know Zain – how fast is the mobile internet, like how long to download 1MB..? With the USB modem…
#59 Its the network we are talking about here and not empowring. Should their customers suffer because Zain is empowering people? no ways [-x
rashid jones people have stuck with ZAIN because we have numbers that are given out to friends and business associates.we depend on these numbers for our lifestyles.
history has got some part in this,before, zamcell was one of the best mobile service providers in zambia and the pioneer in mobile communication.
they where the first and the fastest,they covered zambia before their competitors could blink.
so the only reason we are stuck with ZAIN could be loyalty thing unconciously. memories of poor service from other service providers is very fresh hence we hope it’s a blip with zain.
by the way zambians have the most amazing patience or is it naivity. :-?:-?:-?:-?
Zain has so much money pliz invest in infrastruture and save your clients from this untold suffering of having to call someone 4 times before you can finally get through. MTN is okay but there customer reponse is disgusting to say the least. Their K 20 000. Scratch cards were at one time not scratchable with recharge #`s not visible at all and it took 36 hrs for my to have the scratch card # from customer care. I had wanted to make an important call so I had too look for money to get some other talk time. Cell Z is laka.
Communications authority protect us from the so called disposable chinese phones that are not repairable and have no accessories such as bateries or chargers.
Sony Ericsson Phiri, very unfortunate iam not an IT person so i have no idea. Im so much into Financial analysis my brother.
The problem is zain can be both internal and external,zain delivers services not products, something intangible is difficult to put a cost,from my simple analysis of zain , its a an knowledge base organisation which whose survival is investment in IT and Human resourse, but that not the case,the still behavior like a pyraimd structure management were the bottom level can`t think, or are not innovatiful always waiting for orders from above even on simple issues,second they keeping gaining market share but not looking back at the order customers,like the wat the bus conductor works, when he wants you to get in the bus you are the boss get in that changes to iwe..customer loyality is very
cont- important cos when you introduce a new service , these are the pipo you use,even if the new service comes wit a price they are loyal, but whats happening now is that a new service comes in and pipo are are freaked out wit the price without even checking the service!!so if zain can stop to expand and deal with the already existing customers,” customer retention” and on the customers side you want a better service go deeper into your wallets. :)>-
:)]:-@:-c:)>-**==8->8-x[-x@-)[-(%-(>:d<@};->:/^:)^8-}
53 AND 58
I DO NOT SUBSCRIBE TO YOUR CHEAP THINKING AND SHALLOW LEVEL OF REASONING. IF MY BROTHER IN-LAW CALLS MY WIFE AND CLAIMS HE IS UNABLE TO GET THROUGH TO HIS SISTER AND I HAPPEN TO BE SITTING NEXT TO HER, WHAT IS THE MOST SIMPLE AND POSSIBLE THING FOR ME TO DO. IS IT NOT TO CALL HER AND YOUR CRAP ZAIN NETWORK FOR WHICH YOU ARE TRYING TO FIND EXCUSES FOR CONGESTION AND PROVE WHAT MOST PEOPLE ARE CLAIMING HERE. THINK BEFORE YOU WANT TO FIND OR MAKE OTHERS LIKE THEY ARE NOT LEARNED AND ANALYTICAL IN THEIR ACTIONS. F”%K OFF AND YOUR CRAP NETWORK YOU TWO.
Thanks y’all for updating a brother. But as far as i can remember 097 numbers were always a pain to get through to. Even now when i call back home i easily get through on 096 and 095. That’s not to say i never get through on 097 its just that much harder. That’s the end result of bringing in jokers as investors. Allow the likes of Vodaphone, Orange and T-mobile then you will see people work for their money.
Zambia is a free market, that’s the service Zain is providing so unless you can prove they are misleading in their ads/contracts or charging you unused airtime you should go elsewhere. Otherwise go and complain to CAZ for any contract breaches.
They are not a public service provider like UTH, govt. schools or roads etc… infact this is niche market, you can survive without a Zain cell phone!
Abaleya Zain, abaleya Zain. Im addicted to zain, please guys keep it up as you make our lives wonderful :-c:-h:)>-=d>
=))
I understand why people are angry with ZAIN yet they cant pull out. Zain listed on Luse just after the record breaking CEC. people expected the same performance and got 5yr Bank loans at 20% interest to buy those shares. ‘The worst thing to do is to is to borrow for the purpose small shares’. now they are crying because the bank loan is not disappearing any time soon on the payslip and the share price has fallen, worse still even at the low price no one is willing to buy. Poor zambians
ZAIN ( Zambia Azalila Inadequate Network ). You see pipo. Kwasila.
#75 ^:)^ its true wat u hav said
Guys serious, just rename zain to pain!! :d/
Its is so difficult to get access to my family who are with ZAIN as migrating to another network would mean having all their contacts altered. Please do something. We pay for a service and our families do the same so better provide a better service. Try to also work on your agreements with certain mobile providers in other countries to ensure that even a text message can be received by our loved ones. Its funny that a message to Malawi, Mozambique ( Imagine) from my present location can be delivered while one to Zambian cannot.:o:o[-(
Christ.Iam not commenting of any topic today,iam emotionally affected by the death of that child who died after eating the poisonous wild roots.Chewe,Rashid,Baby C,supergal and many other bloggers lets not exchange strong words,but lets sit down and think of how we can help our beloved pipo in our beloved country to find some solutions on how to overcome this beast called poverty.Mind you we are One wheather Zambian,jordan,indian or white we’re one and Christ is the Head.I love you all bloggers.May our Good Lord bless you all.Amen!
Ba Engines, I’m happy to see that we have informed and educated people on this forum. Great advice!!
Zain was a bad investment choice and the SEC should have done more to inform people of the risks involved.
#60, you may be talking about poor network am talking about those accusing Zain of being thieves. The same Zain you are talking about as thieves will be giving relief food to the people allegedly eating wild poisonous roots. What will MTN and Cell-Z be doing at the same time? Despite its poor services, Zain realizes its obligation to the community and ploughs back what it reaps in profits. Besides, what poor network are you guys talking about? The network is just ok. Problem is that you stay in a tunnel and you want the network to follow you. You talk about quality MTN, when was the last time you were in Livingstone and Mansa? Travel widely before you expose yourself. Umwana ashenda!
Pipo pullliiizzzzii!!! Spare us the crap. Those who are not impressed with Zain switch to other networks. Simple as that. Why banging your heads against the wall. Who told you to buy Zain Sim Cards any way. Grow up.
Zain is 666. There is a big 6 followed by a small 6 and a smaller one completing that logo. Look at it closely. That’s why the shoddy service
# 84-666 my foot!! Which school did you go to where 6 looks like that. Why should you start looking at things closely? Take it as it is. If i look at your nose closely, i will notice that you are a hippo (. You are the same people who called president Banda, Shrek because you looked at him closely. BY the way do you know what Mwendanjangula is? I hope you do otherwise we will look at you closely.
its true most of us are on the Zain Network,but the service is not very good.The culprits are Communications Authority!They dont care what kind of service we get as lonGs they are paid there money:no wonder the chaps get hefty salaries.Nonsense!!!
MTN FOR LIFE!!…even though they have less coverage area, their lines are never congested. Like I once called my aunt(whos on ZAIN) who was on the other side of the house but a lozi woman kept answering each time I called her.Thats just a small example.The other things they do for community we give them credit, but they should fulfill their primary reason which is to provide adequate phone network..Awe shua ba ZAIN ba tayeko nzelu. Im loving MTN and Cell Z.
its true Zain is 666.Why belong to the devil. Cell Z 4ever.
Viva Zamtel.
N0.83 you are right konto, no one told these hutus to run to celtel or zain. us who use cellz never complain. Chaps who use zain must be mindful that it is used by thugs, prostitues, street kids, widows and beggers. Viva CellZ washala sawe !
Natchi these chaps are fake esp uyu kamunyama sony erricsson. Check this outi
Am with Mtn and am very happy. Its affordable and reliable.
The blog is quite now. It confirms my fears that most of the guys and ladies especially the noisy ones use the internet at work or are surfing and blogging from the internet cafes. Guys getting connected is varied and affordable. I am on zamtel usually linked to my desk top, though mostly i use the MTN modem on my laptop as it is mobile so to speak. But most of bangwele are either stealing at work or using the many gonga cafes. Please advance gents.
Ubufi…ZAIN you are thieves!! You steal from your customers and you steal from govt by evading tax! Get the hell out and leave space for vodacom…
#53
#53 you are right about#13,the problem is that we dont want appreciate when some has done good.Yes Zain is facing challenges right now but who enabled us to call our grand mothers up in the village?What we should be saying is improve on your service delivery not that they are thrives,can you prove?Do we really need the president to always interven on all issues where are his ministers?We as a country need to move from this aspect or mentality of higher office involvement in everything.Thats why Cell Z is where it is today because of the same menatlity…… :-?:-?:-?:-?:-?
:o:o:o:o:o
atase ba zain is rubbish 4 now u send a text msg to zed its never reciceved it was better wen it was celtel anyway no better provider celz is equally bad :-@:p
Zain is definitely rubbish but switching to MTN or Cell Z is like jumping into the fire from the pan. Cell Z runs on old Chinese infrastructure that was “given” to Zamtel. Also as you know right now Zamtel is a bottomless pity and Cell Z sits right in the middle of it – not even as a division of the company…its more like a desk. If we all move the system would collapse.
Can someone tell me which network is able to send and receive SMS to and from Spain????
MTN are a bunch of arrogant Amazulu/Afrikkaneers. They came into Zambia on the back of Telcel thinking that we would all switch because it sounded cool saying “Y’ello” instead of “hello”. They invested fcuk all in the infrastructure for years. In fact they were soo stuck up…Celtel aka Zain took all their copperbelt clients from under their noses. To date MTN has been losing money, about $3Mn a year – in telecoms how? They have no capacity for more Zambians on their system due to zero investment.
All the cell phone provider in Zambia are rip offs they are blood suckers while all politicians stand watching doing nothing
If you did not know it cost $0.21 per minute calling someone in Lusaka from Kamwala using Zain,MTN and the other Company.Telephone or communication is too expensive in Zambia.
Zain was at par with Telcel when when David Venn came to Zed. Was game over when you let this bugger paint the whole country RED. Really how could we??? And all they cared about was signing people on and giving houses (now buses) that you pay for!! Imagine, if an sms costs 6cents and you have 2.5mn clients…l would give buses and houses too. The network is weak and overcrowded but it covers the country. Also Zain to Zain is the cheapest – Zain to other is an arm and a leg…makes sense if 80% of the users are on your network.
Zain took a turn for the worse when it changed from celtel. Looks like the new investors are externalising the money and not reinvesting in service delivery. Zain is crap in all countries its operating, not only in zambia. Its the most expensive network to be on, you cant send an sms abroad and local reception is always on and off. But most zambians are stuck with the network because cellz and mtn are not exactly favourable options.
zain is pain in the a#@
People are still subscribing to Zain I’ll have you know. i quit, mediocre and expensive. Orange mobile is coming soon, we need more players on the market instead of rubbish networks like Zain monopolizing the industry..eish.
:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?
The problem with PAIN…oh, i meant ZAIN is that they are only interested in quantity and not quality. They can do so much better than the crap they are giving us right now. All we need is a net work that will cover all districts in Zambia, then watch this space……….SWITCH.
I wnda why Govt through.comunictns authority,has frustratd vodacom n zambia..anyway,as usual,in case u dnt knw,zain has 4 a lng time funded th mmd party,so wat do u xpect..trash as usual.
Vodacom tried to corrupt grz! thats why
#23
You hit the nail on the head. It is that simple.
My Zambian friends, why do forget so fast the commitments that Zain has done to the country. Why is our focus only on what is in your hands and not what the country as a whole benefits. Schools have benefited and still in the pipeline on the same, hospitals, youths to name just a few
Mind you my focus is on what my ambuya and the corners of this safe heaven is picking from the companies that are being set up in Zambia e.g. Zain in question, lets work on improving the systems we have now not making statements that shows how lots we get to be in our comments. Most of the time we made these kinds of statements we ended up nowhere. Don’t be cheated by the devil you don’t even know. **==
Mind you my focus is on what my ambuya and the corners of this safe heaven is picking from the companies that are being set up in Zambia e.g. Zain in question, lets work on improving the systems we have now not making statements that shows how lots we get to be in our comments. Most of the time we made these kinds of statements we ended up nowhere. Don’t be cheated by the devil you don’t even know. **==
bhOMnu
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