A technical error has resulted int 28,000 Airtel customers losing airtime balances worth more than $178,000.

This is according to the Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA), which claims Airtel’s systems erroneously marked prepaid subscriber numbers as roaming.

The regulator has warned the operator to immediately resolve the problem and normalise its services.

Airtel; however, says it has refunded all the affected customers and given them additional 30 minutes of free-talk time as compensation for the inconvenience.

“ZICTA is still monitoring the situation and is encouraging any subscriber who had been affected by this erroneous deduction and may not have been refunded their airtime to get in touch with Airtel customer service,” ZICTA public relations manager Ngabo Nankonde said.