By Chinoyi Chipulu
The Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA) has written and held meetings with ZICTA over the failure by mobile service providers to provide quality service, which they said has greatly affected business in the country..
Speaking in an interview with Daily Revelation yesterday, ZACA president Juba Sakala said many businesses were shrinking, thereby disrupting economic activities.
He said his association had engaged the network providers to see how they could help the shrinking businesses, saying businesses were unable to make tangible profits due to lack of connection to business partner’s.
“We have written to Zambia Information and Communications Technology (ZICTA) and we also had a meeting with them to see how they can be able to sort out this issue, because it’s not only voice calls or general communication for the consumers but also the business sector. These are the people who have complained,” he said.
Sakala said there was need for network providers to amplify their efforts despite the power outages that the country was facing.
“The business sector has complained because they cannot do their business online or advertise on social media platforms. People advertise more on social media and if they can’t get connected, thereby losing business,” he said. “Companies may struggle to maintain customer service standards, respond to inquiries, or process orders efficiently. It may result in displeased customers and missed business chances.”
Sakala also said there was need to create an enabling environment for the business sector as they played an important role in fueling economic growth and development in Zambia.
“Our call is let them keep on checking these mobile service providers and make sure that they are on top of things and let them also up their game because most of the time, they want more customers yet they do not want to expand in terms of infrastructure. So it is important they also look at their infrastructure, these are some of the issues. Most of them have done the expansion but the infrastructure is too small to accommodate all customers. And some of them, their towers are out there but they don’t have backup when there is a power outage,” said Sakala.
