The Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) has enforced a ban on promotions run by mobile operators as a result of alleged failure on the part of operators to heed calls for network improvement.

ZICTA said no promotion by the operators will be approved until the regulator is satisfied with the quality of services provided by the operators.

ZICTA public relations manager Ngabo Nankonde said the move has been necessitated by the ever deteriorating services being offered by Airtel, MTN and Zamtel.

She said the Regulator was compelled to take action following technical reports conducted for quarters one and three of 2014. ZICTA has observed network congestion and poor quality of service was common amongst all three operators.

Last week, ZICTA warned that some mobile phone operators risk having their licenses revoked if they do not improve their services to consumers.

"This can be confirmed by technical reports conducted by quarters one to three of this year which measured, among others, fives sets of parameters namely; call set up time, call drop rate, call set-up success rate, SMS sending time and successful SMS ratio," Nankonde said.

In July last year, ZICTA dragged all the tree operators to court over poor services claiming the behavior of the operators was criminal in nature.