The trouble waters of Zambia Telecommunications Company (Zamtel) is not settling anytime soon, this follows the announcement of the resignation of the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Mupanga Mwanakatwe.
Furthermore, the board of Zamtel has also been dissolved by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), an investment arm of the Zambian government. The government is the owner of Zamtel which is struggling to to compete with two privately owned mobile phone companies MTN Zambia and Airtel Zambia.
Although no official reason has been given for Mwanakatwe’s resignation, the company in a statement said the CEO has separated on mutual agreement. In his place, the company announced that its Chief Technical Officer Sydney Mupeta would assume duty as the acting CEO.
Zamtel’s woes came to public attention via the auditor general’s report two years ago which revealed that Zamtel has not made a profit from 2012 when Mwanakatwe was appointed CEO after the Zambian government repossessed the company from Lap Green Network of Libya. Zamtel was sold to the Libyan firm in 2010.
Last year, the management of the company was transferred to the IDC in order to quickly source investment required to recapitalise the company. It is worthy to note that Zamtel is the smallest telecoms company in the country with just over 1 million subscribers. The company management told the company that Zamtel is moving towards collapse except it is able to secure USD300 million investment.
