Airtel Zambia executives say the company has invested US$50m into an network upgrade to enhance its service delivery, particularly to support the growing micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) market segment.

Enterprise Director Muyunda Munyinda said the company is improving its internet and expanding its services in order to remain competitive.

New services developed include an e-commerce platform for MSMEs.

Munyinda said the company's upgraded internet is now ready to carry all the business-related traffic to support MSMEs. "Airtel is positioning itself as a leading internet service provider in the country through the expansion of services and network."

Airtel Zambia faces stiff competition from MTN Zambia, the country's largest telecom operator with close to 50% of the country's telecom market share, as well as from the bottom-placed government owned Zamtel, which is nearing the 2 million subscriber mark.

The growth of Zamtel follows the government's decision to transfer the management of the company to the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) last year.

Moreover, Airtel Zambia continues to grapple with issues including dropped calls, congested network and insufficient network coverage.

The Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) and the Parliamentary select Committee on Communications, Works and Supply raised these issues with the company.

The operator promised to invest in upgrading its network in order to overcome some of the challenges it faces and said it would continue to invest in it network to improve the customer experience.