Fund transfer handled properly, says Zain Africa CEO

The Zambian government's transfer of Celtel Zambia funds to Zain was handled properly, Zain Africa CEO Chris Gabriel said at a briefing in Lusaka on Monday.

Zambian opposition leader Michael Sata claimed that the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry dubiously transferred Celtel funds to Zain of Kuwait without first taking time to study Zain's performance.

However, no transfer of ownership was involved in the rebranding of Celtel to Zain, Gabriel noted.

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The Zambian government's transfer of Celtel Zambia funds to Zain was handled properly, Zain Africa CEO Chris Gabriel said at a briefing in Lusaka on Monday.

Zambian opposition leader Michael Sata claimed that the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry dubiously transferred Celtel funds to Zain of Kuwait without first taking time to study Zain's performance.

However, no transfer of ownership was involved in the rebranding of Celtel to Zain, Gabriel noted.

Celtel Zambia was rebranded to Zain in August, and the company's network has been failing since then. Dropped calls have caused an outcry from subscribers, leading to the complaints from the Communication Authority of Zambia regarding Zain's quality of service.

Zain, however, is ready to continue investing in Zambia and work with the government to resolve network issues, Gabriel said.

While agreeing that the company's network has performed poorly in the last two months, Gabriel said that the network has improved tremendously over the last two week and will continue to do so.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.