Payment of utility bills via handsets and the purchase of prepaid airtime on Airtel Zambia, the country’s largest network, is failing after Zambia re-based its currency ten days ago.
The country’s government has revised the Zambian Kwacha by removing three zeros from the old currency.
What used to be K50, 000 is now K50 and service providers were asked by the Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) to changeover to the new currency to avoid inconveniencing customers through service interruptions.
However, Airtel Zambia customers are being turned away from buying mobile airtime in Airtel outlets because the service is down and there is no mention by the company of when the service will be functional.
This is despite assurances from the company that it was ready for the exercise, and that there would be no planned interruptions in service provisions during the changeover period.
“The company budgeted about $600, 000 for the rebasing exercise to ensure there was no interruption of services,” said Airtel Zambia head of communications and government relations Chabuka Kawesha.
Kawesha previously said the company has put in place various technical operations to make sure that their customers do not experience any interruption related to the rebasing of the currency.
But the firm has remained mute over its current technological failure and about when its mobile airtime and utility payment services could be back to normal.
Paradoxically, Airtel Zambia customers are receiving messages about the dual display of tariffs in both the new and old currency.
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