Zambia Telecommunications Company (Zamtel) made a profit of K14.5 million in July, representing a turnaround for the company following a five-year dry spell.

The Minister of Communications and Transport Brian Mushimba confirmed the development and said the company made K2.3 million in May and K14.5 million in July.

Mushimba said the government has invested US$300 million in communication infrastructure for the company, including the construction of communication towers.

This has empowered the company to expand its network nationally, specifically to rural areas.

"We want to position Zambia as a regional hub in ICT considering the strategic location of the country and Zamtel is the vehicle we want to use to achieve that. As a minimum standard, we now want all government employees to be on Zamtel network," Mushimba said.

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

Acting CEO Sydney Mupeta said Zamtel's performance has continued to improve, recording positive revenue since May due to prudent resource mobilisation and exciting product offers, including the recently launched Kwacha mobile money service, among others

According to the 2015 Auditor General's report, Zamtel was on the verge of collapse because the company had not made any profit since 2012 when it was repossessed from Libya's LapGreen Network by the current administration.