Airtel Zambia has announced the launch of reduced international calling rates to selected destinations. The rates promise to be the most affordable on the market.
Speaking during launch and through the press release Airtel Zambia Marketing Director, Mr. Navdeep Kapur said: “When we launched our Zambitious campaign, we promised that we will introduce some of the coolest rates on the market. To this, we went ahead and established the most popular destinations to determine how best we can delight our customers.”
Airtel customers will need to enrol through a simple process in order to benefit from these tariffs which are on offer immediately. With South Africa proving to be a high traffic destination, rates have been slashed by 75%.
Some of the destinations that customers will be able to call at discounted rates include all neighbouring countries, China and United States of America where customers will be able to call for as low as K10 per second.
Mr. Kapur added, “This is Airtel’s way of saying thank you to its customers for the support, we will continue bringing forth services that are delightful and locally relevant and ensure that our customers benefit. This is Airtel’s commitment to all its customers. Airtel feels that this will augment communication and reduce the cost of doing business”.
Way to go. It is about time Zambians have been ripped off for a long time. Now let competition do its wonders.
This is what we want…….
Next should be Internet providers.
poor services
A call from Zambia to South Africa is international? I thought it was regional.
?????? Regional??? all calls made outside a nominated country is international.
The cost of doing business in Zambia is astronomical while the quality of services provided are substandard. Nga ni internet yena awe teti tulande, people pay with their blood.
Its about time these rip offs were put in check.
Good call :)
Thank Airtel,Economies of scale at work and passing on the benefits to the consumer.Thanks
Smart business move, this would increase revenues for Airtel because of increase in volume. This is a two-prong strategy, in that those customers from other carriers who call those destinations with reduced rates will switch unless their current carriers match the new Airtel rates and the current customers would tend to spend more time on the phone thinking at 75% rate reduction they can now talk more than twice as much at a better cost. The customer wins by being more productive, sociable, etc and the business gains more clientele and revenues with one shot, a win-win scenario. I love it!!!
This is good news. Now what is that simple process we need to follow to apply?
#3 Matolokoshi, Your father must have been working for Zambia Railways. Your name means goods wagons for a train(shitima). Yahaa!!!!!!! The good days of Zambia Railways.
Still most expensive in the region
when is this being effected
These Network providers charge us all these hideously high international charges as they are a cartel, they use the same Russian and Eastern Asian satellites, the selfsame satellites we use when we call home via cheap telephone cards (£5 for 150mins to Zambia) its time us who are in diaspora in partnership with locals at home look for ways to tap in this market so as our people back home can benefit from cheap outside Zambia. The Pakistanis, Nigerians, Somalis etc. ..have tapped into this market including the money transfer market and are delivering stellar deals in their homelands no one uses overpriced Western Union.any more.
Tell what…these Network providers charge us all these hideously high international charges as they are a cartel, they use the same Russian and Eastern Asian satellites, the selfsame satellites we use when we call home via cheap telephone cards (£5 for 150mins to Zambia) its time us who are in diaspora in partnership with locals at home look for ways to tap in this market so as our people back home can benefit from cheap outside Zambia. The Pakistanis, Nigerians, Somalis etc. ..have tapped into this market including the money transfer market and are delivering stellar deals in their homelands no one uses overpriced Western Union.any more.
I can bet you that even at that reduction they will still make a profit!!
Let me know how you intend to achieve that, prepare a full business plan and let me know how you intend to operationalize your ideas.
Bring it on. I am with you on this one. What can we do together as Zedians overseas?
gd but it can be better expecialy calls within the country between different providers shldnt difer
K10 per second works out at K6000 per ten minutes, which is about 7.5 British pence per minute. This compares favourably with the rates for calling Zambian cell phones from the UK. However, given the levels of poverty in Zambia, one would expect better than this. Affordable telecom services are vital to bring Zambia into the 21st century. More needs to be done, especially by ZAMTEL.
Now find out how much Zambians pay to fire a couple of texts from their phones, when texts costs next to nothing..
Per second billing is still better than per minute billing .(in per minute billing you end up paying for unused seconds)
Jay Jay: Let me know how you intend to achieve that, prepare a full business plan and let me know how you intend to operationalize your ideas.
B R Mumba, Sr
Let’s see how all this works from the moment you buy the Prepaid Calling Card from a Newsagent say in the UK to call abroad you have an access number right….then wait for a voice prompt to ask you to punch in the PIN. Most of the calling cards on the market will then tell you the balance left on the phone card and then prompt you to dial your destination number. Your call was already picked up by the Prepaid Calling Card Company and it is taking you through a main dashboard. Here the calling card route is established. Basically the company has a series of carriers set in route towards that international destination or domestic one.
Depending on how cheap each carrier’s rate is to your International Dialing Code and also how good the quality is on that route the best carrier is picked and your call is transferred to them.
Based on the rate per minute some prepaid calling cards should also tell you the amount of minutes available to your destination number according to the balance left on the calling card.
What am I was looking for here if I was in Zambia from an Entrepreneur’s point of view:
1) Prepaid Calling Card Company (bridge to overseas)
2) Establish a Free connection (or cheaper access via mobile phone) to this access number via all networks.
3) The Stability of the Kwacha in the long term (as I’m selling a fixed priced international calling card)
can you send me yout email we progress the matter
K10 per second= K600 per minute= US dollar 0.12 per minute.
Who says this is cheap?
12 cents a minute to phone South Africa?
Call from USA to Zambia per minute is 1 cent.
WHAT OF RUSSIA??????
Is this not throwing down the gauntlet to Zamtel?
Jay Jay: Thanks, I understand the framework … how do you intend to turn that around and what infrastructure do you require to get that done. Also remember that Zambia alone is a very small market and your business plan should at least include the SADC region if I have to source you say $100 million for for close to 100 million people combined population for your region including DRC, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Botswana, Namibia, RSA, etc. Licensing could start in Zambia and then expand. Best way to market it is to allow the entire region call any country in the next as a local number but international charges would only apply to Continents and those countries outside your network. Start thinking about how you can get that done, I can find you the money to do it … good luck
Lets hope it will be sustained. Keep it up and be more zambious
What about calling to Europe, Russia, Asia etc
How come some essential goods and services in Zambia are always provided by foreign entities- MTN,Zain,,Airtel ???? When is Zambia going to have homegrown firms going regional? For God’s sake even unstable somalia has its own mobile networks and Kenya has Safaricom.C’mon,wake up Zambia.
the problem is not being zambian its our attitude towards our own zambian products and zambian investors for example,i dont see why one should insult when criticized own opinion here on the site,but we do…so we can make our own network with learned engineers from unza and cbu,but themselves dont trust themselves to perform…lets reflect one by one as individual what we will leave for our country and your children…..chaoooo!!!
@ 5, the definition of “international” is “relating to, or involving two or more nations”. So yes a call to or fro Zambia & South africa in an international call.
Guys, the business model for setting up a Prepaid Calling Card Business has evolved and you don’t need a big outlay of cash to set up. Most of these are set up by individuals who have either rented OR purchased a solution. I can share this information as I want to let know people that not everything is as it seems its all about just packaging your product. I used to call the Customer service numbers on the back of these cards to complain about reduced minutes, and I was amazed that the people on the other side were either driving or even babysitting….that’s how easy it is…now you can outsource that service. Yes this model is easier in the west as they are numerous Prepaid Calling Companies BUT this can easily replicated in an untapped market like Zambia or Southern Africa.
Let’s not be too amazed when we see all these billionaire owners of Airtel or Zain or MTN, those guys are getting their bread buttered in new untapped markets like Africa….that is you putting money in their pockets every time you are on Facebook; that’s the reason they panic when you vote with your feet or protest as a group but we are not organise yet to force ’em to reduce their tariffs. Kudos to them I salute as capitalist myself but I would like to see more native people tapping in this lucrative Telecom market and by that I don’t mean your Zamtel or quasi-government companies; I mean the SMEs and the local Entrepreneurs.
Below is a video of how to set up a Prepaid Calling Card in the USA, anything is doable…
youtube.com/watch?v=ZwKnz_uoW-s
Airtel ni marubish!! Thieves!!
How many of us call South Africa anyway. What we need is local calling rates slashed. Right now Airtel is the most expensive. And the nonsense of registration to benefit from this or that rate ensures that those without the information miss out on the so called offers
You could certainly see your enthusiasm in the work you write. The sector hopes for even more passionate writers like you who aren’t afraid to say how they believe. At all times go after your heart.
I just couldn’t leave your web site before suggesting that I extremely loved the usual info an individual provide on your guests? Is going to be back incessantly in order to check up on new posts
I do consider all of the ideas you’ve introduced to your post. They are very convincing and can definitely work. Nonetheless, the posts are very brief for newbies. May you please prolong them a bit from subsequent time? Thank you for the post.
I want to know how to call from airtel prepaid India to lusaka?I tried but its not working out,could you pls mail me for this query?
i want know airtel’S cheap call plan Amritsar to lusaka, can you mail me for this query?
i want know airtel’S cheap call plan pune to lusaka, can you mail me for this query?