ZICTA fines Airtel Zambia over network outageZICTA fines Airtel Zambia over network outage

Following a weekend network outage that impacted Airtel Zambia users, the country’s regulator, the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA), has ordered the telco to compensate its customers.

The regulator reported a major outage on February 2, 2025, during which data services were down for over three hours in multiple regions, including Lusaka, and the Southern, Western, Central and Eastern provinces of the country.

Airtel Zambia has been forced to reimburse all affected customers, with the value of compensation totaling 4 million Zambian kwacha (US$142,500), per the Consumer Protection Guidelines.

"Additionally, the operator must fast-track network infrastructure upgrades, particularly focusing on critical data centers, to enhance network resilience by February 28, 2025," the regulator said in a statement.

Airtel Zambia was also instructed to implement mechanisms to prevent future outages and ensure compliance with consumer protection guidelines.

"ZICTA remains committed to protecting the interests of consumers and ensuring reliable communication services. The Authority assures the public that corrective measures are being undertaken to prevent future occurrences," the regulator concluded.

Airtel Zambia has been told to pay a total of US$142,500 to customers impacted by a network outage. (Source: nakaridore on Freepik)

Airtel Zambia sent a notice apologizing for the outage and alerting users that its services were up and running.

Related:Airtel Chad fined $8.3M for deteriorating network

Airtel Zambia is the biggest operator in the country with about 11.2 million mobile users at the end of 2024, according to statistics from market research company Omdia, a sister company of Connecting Africa.

MTN Zambia is the second largest with 7.4 million mobile users and Zamtel is the smallest telco with almost 4 million mobile users over the same period.

African telcos fined for poor network quality

This is not the first time Airtel Zambia has been fined for poor network quality; the operator experienced similar outages at the end of 2023, prompting the regulator to compel it to compensate its customers.

In August 2023, Chad's telecom regulator imposed a fine of 5 billion Central African CFA francs (US$8.3 million at the time) on Airtel Chad due to declining network quality.

In May 2023, Cameroon's telecom regulator fined the country's four mobile operators a total of XAF6 billion (US$9.8 million at the time) for poor network performance.

In June 2023, Togo's telecom regulator warned Moov Africa Togo and Togo Cellulaire (Togocom) of potential penalties if they failed to improve their service quality.

This warning followed a fine of 2.3 billion West African CFA francs (US$3.7 million at the time) imposed on Togocom in June 2022 for "serious breaches" in providing continuous, uninterrupted mobile service.

Also in June 2022, Moov Africa Togo received a formal notice from Togo's ARCEP for similar service deficiencies.

In July 2022, Orange Guinea was fined 9.5 billion Guinean francs (US$1.1 million at the time) for "failing to meet its service availability obligations" after a network outage left customers without key services for over 30 hours.