ZICTA has today announced that it has granted Beeline Telecom Limited a licence to commence mobile phone operations in the country.
Beeline Telecom, a Zambian wholly owned company, will be required to commence operation within the next six months failure to which, unless determined otherwise by the Authority, the licence will be revoked.
Currently the mobile service operators include South African telecoms giant MTN, Airtel and local telecoms firm Zamtel.
The local company has been offered the international network and national services licences with associated resources and becomes the fourth mobile network services provider in the country.
ZCTA Director General Patrick Mutimushi, who announced the development in a statement, said the decision to introduce a fourth mobile operator was arrived at after conducting an analysis of the ICT Sector Market.
He added the decision was looked at from the perspective of, among others, the quality of services being provided by the incumbent licensees as well as the need to raise the levels of competition.
In September last year, the Authority invited applications for a network licence under the International Market Segment and a Service Licence under the national Market Segment with associated resources.
Mr Mutimushi said following a thorough evaluation process and Beeline, having met the minimum criteria, the Authority resolved to award the licence in question to the local company.
He added that since the cancellation of UZI Zambia’s licence in 2018 and considering the fact the challenges hounding the sector have continued, the Authority had re-embarked on seeking a fourth mobile operator.
“It is this process that culminated into issuance of the licence to Beeline Telecom Limited,” Mr Mutimushi said.
From honeybee to beeline
Chola Katongo P They have not learnt that everything with BEE in it doesn’t seem to work??
Mmmm any name which starts with bee is not trusted at de moment
This is good.. we may at least see some improvement in the service provision by these mobile providers if they see some competition
I love seeing zambian owned business doing well. This is great news. More in the market means competitive prices for the consumers. As a business man who is successful I welcome this news. But pf is working bane. Those in diaspora you will never be allowed to own such companies there abroad. You will c0mtinue working in care homes until you get grey pubic hair
Bee careful mwe
Aren’t these the HoneyBee crooks??? PF govt is so corrupt I wouldn’t be surprised if they were same entity.
Anyway August is coming,let’s vote them out babe?
??? but the company has its HQ in Russia how is it a Zambian wholly owned, or it’s franchise please elaborate.
Why do I have a feeling that Beeline Telecom is linked to Honeybee?
Any connection with Honey BEE?
We need a fourth mobile company… These guys (MTN, Airtel, and a bit Zamtel) need some competition
How can publish an article without telling us more about this company…isn’t this just a front for crooks like Finlay and Lazy Lungu. How can a company with no track record be awarded this?
For as long as they are credible company, I am all for it. Hopefully more players in this sector will force these cell companies to drop the silly business model of BUNDLES. I really don’t understand this model nor does it make any sense at all. For well established cell companies, the model of selling bundles is outdated and shows some kind of “fly by business.” Business that is not serious about QUALITY SERVICE DELIVERY to its customers. No wonder Zambians have been complaining about the poor quality of service offered by these cell companies since their inspection in Zambia. The best model that serious cell companies operate by, near all over the world, is to charge customers a FLAT MONTHLY FEE, graduated according to the amount of data a custer wants to purchase….. UNLIMITED DATA…
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being the highest and most costly a customer can buy. This way a customer knows the monthly expense for their cell services and can budget for it. That is how business should be done, and the Govt can help greatly by mandating, by law, that cell companies operate that way. Bundles should be left to people visiting Zambia ( tourists) who are their for a short time.
Welcome to Zambia Beeline. (though I know it’s fully Zambian owned) we have been waiting for you ???
From honey bee ? to bee line
Bruce Kanema Let us support our own. This is a Zambian Company please ?
Chrissy Mutale Katema I have no problem to support local business but not probably supporting counterfeit products
Another Bee again…?
Yambayamba – You do understand that Zambians or Africans purchase their handsets outright and are on pay as go….if an iPhone costs £1500 they buy it no credit unlike in the US or Europe where you can get a handset without paying anything after a credit check then pay monthly for 24 months. Competition among Western Network providers is so fierce that they don’t make any profit on new handsets but on packages.
This new Network provider is not going to do anything new as they are not coming with their own infrastructure they will have to use Zamtel’s so the options of them coming up with innovative packages are limited.
@Tarino…
I get your point. But like you have stated, the more these cell companies come on line in Zambia, the more innovation will be forced on them due to competition. By the way, I slightly disagree with you that just because a cell company does not have its own physical cell infrastructure it can not innovate it’s services. We have plenty of regional cell companies (such as Metro PCS) in America that operate on nation-wide cell companies’ (such as TMobile or AT&A) physical infrastructure and are still just as robust and innovative in their service offerings as their “big, nation-wide” competitors.
Ma shares ati bwanji apo. Tidyemo pela we.
Yambayamba – Network providers in Zambia operate like a cartel they are all in mutual agreement to provide below average services at high tariffs…the regulator is inept and just happy they are there.
Its the same with banking in Zambia another sector all together look at how long it took them to embrace innovation typical examples chip &pin or smart contactless payments the technology was there but they didn’t want invest why should they…when its going to cost them.
Tarino, I couldn’t agree with you more. What YambaYamba proposes is not possible in Zambia and the charging of bundles is not unique to Zambia but commonplace across Africa and Asia. Infact, the cost of mobile telecoms in Africa (and Asia) is significantly cheaper than in Western countries be it for voice or data services. It is not always that we need to copy what has worked in the West. Infact when it comes to mobile telecoms, Africa and Asia are in many regards leads the way as were able to leap frog the costly landline technology/infrastructure.
It’s wholly Zambian in the sense that it could operate in a 51 govt to 49 private threshold. Just like ZESCO.
I am surprised because, judging from their behaviour so far, I don’t think ZICTA has the capacity to assess any bid of such magnitude and make a good judgement. Officers at ZICTA specialize in sitting the whole day sipping coffee as they eavesdrop on private citizen’s phone conversations.
HOW THE BLING LEAD THE BLIND
Local is laka
The bee has put me off already.
@blabla
I am not sure which Western countries you are talking about. You should also realize that QUALITY SERVICE does not come cheap. So if you think the cost of cell services is in Western countries is expensive, it is because the cell phone services here are of higher quality and reliability compared to places like Zambia. Also you have to compare Apples to Apples in terms of standard of living, which in turn dictates what you pay for goods and services. By the way, I am not saying bundles should be dropped all together, NO. I just think basing the entire cell phone business model on selling bundles is a RIP OFF to consumers. It appears convenient and cheap on the surface but in the long run this model is costly to customers. It is basing the entire “telephone” model on people…
buying PHONE CARDS to make calls. Yes, on the surface this might appear cheaper, but by the time you are done purchasing phone cards to see you through the month, you would soon realize that it is actually cheaper to pay a predictable flat monthly charge to the phone company than buying phone cards. It is the same deal with cell services. By the way, how many times have somebody called you from Zambia on the cellphone and they tell you to call them back because they don’t have or have run out of so called “TALK TIME”? Worse still, if you need to access the internet most of the time, buying bundles is far more expensive than paying a flat monthly fee. It is also in the Western world that companies like Apple Computer has thrived selling iPhones handsets without necessarily being in…
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business of providing cellphone services. So I am not sure where you are getting the idea that cell phone handsets can not be purchased independent of the cell phone providers. Selling cellphone Handsets has nothing to do with which cell phone service provider you decide to sign up with, or the quality and innovative products a cellphone service provider can come up with. Bundles are only good for the companies’ bottomline than for the consumer. There is a reason why cell companies in Zambia have stack to this model all these years.
Any relation to ??
Where do we apply for employment with this company
I have used Beeline for a very long time…their Tariff plans are very good and affordable…let’s welcome it.
It’s not Zambian owned