Zambia set for increased subscriber base – MTN’s Charles Molapisi

MTN Zambia’s CEO Charles Molapisi says the company is well positioned for  further growth in the telecoms sector in Zambia with the country’s population still very young, opening up capacity for growth of the subscriber base countrywide.

And Molapisi says the company has invested more than US$30 million in the business to deliver its range of services that has seen its subscriber base swell to 5.7 million customers for services including data, voice calls and mobile money.

He says MTN is focused on strengthening its market share and build on its portfolio of services, supported by positive macro-economic factors in the country. The development comes at a time when Zambia is expecting more players in the country’s telecommunications sector, with MTN noting its openness to competition.

Speaking on the side-lines of the Customer Service Conference recently held in Lusaka under the theme, “Customer experience taking the lead into the experience economy”, Molapisi said his company welcomes competition citing support for a level playing field.

“As a company we welcome competition and this year alone, we have invested over $30million in this market and we will continues to do what we can to ensure that we please our customers while building our network,” said Molapisi.

He explained that MTN is seeing a massive rebound in its business which has been helped by macro-economic factors. Molapisi noted that there’s been stability in the Zambian economy and this is helping the business see positive signs of recovery and MTN is happy about the business and seeing good growth overall in its business.

Molapisi, who was awarded the 2017 Most Customer Focused Strategic Leader during the Customer Service Awards, has emerged as one of the most interactive chief executive officers in Zambian business with an innovative culture of interacting with his network subscribers through his monthly Facebook Live chats.

“I have time to listen to customers and assist them because it is in our service charter. We are liable to be responsive and next year we are honouring our customers because we have declared 2018 the year of the customer.”

MTN is Zambia’s largest telecommunications company with at least 49 per cent market share and has the largest mobile money customer base in excess of 800 000 active subscribers.