The Zambia Telecommunications Company (Zamtel) has reported ZMW68 million (approximately US$7 million) in profit in Q4 2017.

This is the company's third declaration of profit since 2012 when it was repossessed from Libya's LapGreen Network by the current administration based on allegations that it was corruptly sold by the previous administration.

The company first declared profit of ZMW2.3 million in Q2 of 2017 and ZMW14.8 million in Q3 following the appointment of Victor Mupeta as the company's new CEO at the beginning of the year.

Chief marketing officer Rozindaba Soko said customer support is driving growth and in August it reached 2 million customers and expects to close the year with 2,5 million customers.

Soko said in 2018 the company will focus on the quality of its network.

She added that 100 communication towers have been installed out of the 110 earmarked for completion by year-end.

"The US$280 million investment that the government has injected in the company will help it achieve its growth next year," Soko said.

Zamtel has initiated an aggressive subscriber acquisition drive and has developed a tariff plan that allows customers to call across networks at the same rate.

The company wants to overtake Airtel Zambia as the country's second largest operator in the coming year.

Currently, MTN Zambia is the largest operator with close to 6 million customers followed by Airtel Zambia with about 4 million subscribers.