MTN Zambia Loses 800,000 Subscribers

While waiting for the official numbers from ZICTA, we have come across some data that is interesting to note. According to telecompaper, MTN Zambia has deregistered about 800,000 mobile phone customers who failed to meet the 31 January SIM cards registration deadline. Apparently, the operator has registered about 3.5 million subscribers as of 31 January. According to these numbers, it means that MTN Zambia only had 4.3 million subscribers, give or take, prior to the SIM registration exercise.

The number of agents recruited to recapture the lost subscribers now stands at 3,700, according to the article. This is equivalent to almost one tenth the number of successfully registered mobile phone subscribers. It can only mean that the investment to recapture the deactivated subscribers is worth it if MTN Zambia is going through the trouble. Nonetheless, how efficient is this method of hiring manpower as opposed to mechanizing or computerizing the Sim cards registration process moving forward?

Telecom Paper states that:

GM for corporate services Mwenzi Mulenga said MTN has recruited about 700 agents in the last six weeks to help with the registration of its subscribers whose SIM cards were deactivated on 31 January. Mulenga said the total number for the agents who have been engaged by the service provider now stands at 3,700.