CELTEL Malawi says its customer base has surpassed 500,000 mark, meaning that more than half a million Malawians are now switched to the Celtel network.

Speaking Tuesday during a press conference in Lilongwe Managing Director Charles Zouzoua said the company has the largest number of customers compared to their competitors.“From our surveys, what this translates to is that for every 10 people who use a mobile handset in Malawi, six are on the Celtel network,” Zouzoua said.In 2002, he said, three people out of 10 used Celtel network.“The latest development is testimony that Malawi’s telecoms industry has made a major leap forward,” he said.Adding: “We at Celtel are therefore proud to be associated with the development of the country’s telecom sector, which in turn should go a long way to assist in economic growth.”
He said Celtel covers 84 percent of the total population and has pioneered a number of services in the country like Prepaid billing and Me2U airtime sharing.

The Rest @ The Daily Times, Malawi

Celtel Malawi Offers New Wirless Plan

In keeping with its tradition of pioneering ground-breaking innovative mobile services, Celtel Malawi Limited recently launched a new and most affordable tariff plan in Malawi called ‘Macheza’.

As a discounted tariff, Macheza will allow prepaid customers to pay less and talk for more in line with the tariff’s name, which means “chat”.

The new plan targets prepaid social callers and is the cheapest call rate available in Malawi.
With Macheza tariff, consumers get a discount of 41 percent on Celtel-to-Celtel calls and 37 percent on calls terminating to other networks.

Macheza tariff will applies during off-peak hours from 6 PM to 6 AM and is running on a Per Second Billing platform.

The Rest @ Mobil Africa

Malawi Telcom Limited (MTL) Buys Majority Shares In Telkom Networks Malawi (TNM)

The privatised Malawi Telecommunications Limited (MTL) has bought majority shares of 60 percent in Telekom Networks Malawi (TNM), hence becoming the major controller of communication airwaves in the country.Dean Lungu, chairman of Press Corporations Limited (PCL)—the main shareholder in Telkom Holdings Limited (THL) which is a consortium that bought the lone ground phone operator MTL—confirmed the developments in an interview yesterday.“Yes it’s true, MTL has taken over TNM.

The deal was signed and handovers should be done within the next two to three weeks,” said Lungu.He said Telekom Malaysia officials are expected to grace the handover ceremony.Asked whether Detecon International, THL’s technical partner, would also be managing TNM, Lungu said the MTL board will meet and decide.

Former MTL acting board chairman Ken Msonda who fought the MTL sale, said it was unfortunate that a private company was in control of the national airwaves.Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) public relations officer Clara Mulonya could not be reached for comment on what would happen to other telephone companies such as Celtel who depend on MTL’s network for interconnectivity.

Read the Rest @ The Nation Online

Malawi Telecom Sector: New Report

Malawi’s telecommunications sector is among the least developed in Africa with a fixed-line penetration rate below 1%, despite more than doubling the number of fixed-line connections in the past five years.

The mobile sector has grown more than nine-fold during the same period since competition was introduced, but market penetration is still very low in this sub-sector as well, at under 3%. 2005 saw a renewed failed attempt at privatisation of the national carrier, MTL, the revocation of the third mobile licence and the firing of the Board of the independent telecoms regulator, MACRA.

All of these events should create new opportunities in 2006, as should the licensing of a second national operator (SNO) and the legalisation of Internet telephony which are both planned in the near to mid-term.

Read the Rest from Budde.com

Malawi Telecommnications Limited Not rolled out after 1 Year

Information and Tourism Minister Patricia Kaliati on Wednesday accused the Malawi Telecommunications Limited (MTL) of failing to roll out one year after its privatisation saying many people are still facing communication hiccups due to few telephone lines.

Speaking in Mangochi where she opened a five-day 33rd African Advanced Level Telecommunications Institute (AFRALTI) Governing Council meeting, Kaliati said when MTL was privatised people expected change and that its services should expand to rural areas.

“We are still having problems because you have not yet rolled out. And we ask ourselves why have we privatised. They [MTL] should prove themselves and [if] you will not do it well we may come back and say why can’t we do it,” she said.

MTL head of information technology Ascot Maluwa said in an interview his company has not yet rolled out because it was working on a business plan which has now been approved. He added that when new management took over in February last year it embarked on a project to clean up inefficiencies and rooting out corruption. “What remains now is laying out strategies because we have already installed new equipment. We will meet our targets before four years,” he said without elaborating on the targets.

Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) acting director general Mike Kuntiya said his body was expected to meet MTL to explain how they have faired after a year and would certainly question their licence conditions and get data on their roll out targets. “If they have not [rolled out] they should give reasons to that,” he said. When MTL was privatised it was agreed that it will roll out lines both in urban and rural areas to improve communication. Failure to do so would attract a penalty.

From The Nation