A dispute has erupted between the Zambia Consumers Association (ZACA) and the Communication Authority of Zambia (CAZ) over difficulties in making international calls as a result of congestion at the Mwembeshi satellite station.

The Mwembeshi satellite is owed by Zamtel, a government-run telecom utility company. Zamtel said it is failing to handle the large quantity of international calls made to and from Zambia. CAZ has so far remained silent over the matter.

CAZ and the Zambian government must quickly address the situation before the infrastructure is crippled permanently, said ZACA executive secretary Muyunda Ililonga.

The organization, established by the government to protect consumers from exploitation by service providers, is deeply concerned that the telecom sector is at risk of collapsing as consumer confidence declines due to poor quality of service, Ililonga added.

"From Zamtel's explanation about the call failures, it is clear that international call routing at Mwembeshi could not handle the number of subscribers connected to Zamtel's land-line service and mobile phone lines," he said.

The Zambian government, Ililonga said, needs to allow other telecom operators to carry their own traffic and establish torrential links with neighboring countries in order to ease pressure on the Mwembeshi station.

However, the Zambian government says doing so would cripple Zamtel financially, as the company's survival is dependent upon other telecom service providers for revenue. Zamtel collects revenue for routing other companies' calls through the Mwembeshi satellite and also from ISPs (Internet service providers) using the satellite.

Zambia has two privately owned mobile telecom companies, Zain and MTN, that rely on Zamtel's satellite for international calls.

The two companies said they have written letters of complaint to CAZ and Zamtel over the failing international calls and have requested an urgent solution to the problem. The companies have also forwarded details of the failures and quality issues to Zamtel management.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.