MTN Zambia CEO Charles Molapisi has confirmed the company's SIM registration process to ratify its database and says they do not want a repeat of the MTN Nigeria saga.

Recently MTN Nigeria confirmed it will pay the Federal Government of Nigeria an amount of N330-billion (US$1.671-billion) in settlement of the outstanding multi-billion dollar fine it received last year related to failure to register SIM cards.

Speaking at a media breakfast hosted in Lusaka this week Molapisi reiterated the importance of compliance with SIM registration regulation, adding that MTN Zambia has been complying with this process since 2014 and is currently conducting a SIM verification exercise on the initial registration records submitted by customers.

This involves the deployment of over 6000 smartphones at MTN service centres or retail points to be used to record client data onto the company's system.

Molapisi said the process is not an easy one because of challenges experienced with initial registrations, including unclear data and incomplete processes.

While Molapisi could not divulge the amount, he admitted that SIM card registration has been costly to the company but added that the benefits outweighed the cost.

MTN Zambia has over 5 million customers, according to the latest statistics available.