ZAIN Zambia customers will be able to make international calls for discounted rates of up to 70 per cent as the mobile phone has slashed rates to all international destinations.
Between now and end of September, as a special promotion to celebrate the reduction of rates, customers would be able to benefit from rates as low as 90 per cent.
The company has slashed the international call rates following authorisation by the Zambia Information Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) for the mobile provider to start using its own international gateway.
Zain Zambia commercial director, Mark Ocitti told journalists in Lusaka yesterday that the rates had been reduced depending on the destinations, in some cases by 70 per cent.
Popular destinations such as South Africa, China, United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) could now cost as low as K1,500 per minute.
“We are delighted to pass on the benefit of operating our own gateway to our customers,” he said.
Mr Ocitti said as a special incentive, Zain had embarked on a promotion to run up to September 27, 2010, when rates would be lowered by a further 20 per cent between 18:00 hours and 22:00 on week days and throughout the weekends.
“Now making international calls will be more accessible to more people than ever before. In addition, our coverage of Zambia means that more affordable international calling from anywhere is now a reality,” he said.
He said the mobile phone provider was committed to lowering calling rates even on local calls.
[Times of Zambia]
Lets hope its practical. No more ”please call” me from Zedian relatives and friends.
Looks like the Sale of ZAMTEL has began paying off. So is HH and SATA going to reverse these price reductions when the come to power? Are they going to grab back international gateways and make them exclusive to ZAMTEL? Please all PF cadres on this blog share your thoughts Decision 2011 is near , KA, we need to know.
@1 aka uku peja!
Musokotwane was right when he said the economic data will shame the opposition.HH had his privitisation in Luanshya and the results are appalling.Good that Zain are feeling the heat of competition from MTN.These people as Celtel had evil rates!!
All service providers have no choice but to get innovative, adaptive, customer sensitive, qualitative and locking in customers on value and good service provision because the efficient and robust policies of free market economics RB is fostering, have come with stiff competition. its survival of the fittest against socialization past economics. Remember LAP Green is a US $ 5 billion portfolio entity. Look at what it has injected in RwandaTel how it has turned it around with technology and efficiency. ZAIN is cognizant that a giant in technology is in the house.
All of Ichilema’s executed provatization plunder only benefited Ichilema who raped the process and paid himself leaving employees hungry. He failed RAMCOZ in Luanshya, Contract Haulage, Eagle Traveller, UBZ and conspired in undervaluing Hotels intercontinental and Livingston now Sun hotel with unethical practice of taking the gainful Chairmanship with share values. In the USA such a practice would have seen him jail. It is no different from the malpratices of insider trading.
Someone please explain why call rates to the subregion are more expensive than calls to the US. It is troubling that calls to Botswana, a neighbour, are almost twice as expensive as calls to Canada! This is very perculiar. And we now need to work on internet speed and charges. These two are proving to be quite a bottleneck to the economy
But are they also going to reduce the ones for local calls?
calling Zambia from Europe cost as low as K72 from some providers so that K1,500 is still way too high.
All what was needed was to liberalize the international gateway, nothing to do with selling of Zamtel. With or without zamtel, our dull politicians could still have liberalized the international gateway but they used to give a f00lish excuse of “national security”.
u dont need to sell the national operator for govt to liberalise da international gateway. please comment on issues u understand..
senioooor citiZEN..i think u r an uneducated cadre…u talk nosense
Well this is good news but it does not go very far for the economy ,we need the banks to lower their interest rates so that ordinary people can start borrowing from the banks at reasonable rates .Inflation is down so why are interest rates still very high?Can BOZ take a strong stance on the banks because of their exorbitant rates this is day light robbery .