Millicom Asserts its Commitment to Zanzibar Telecom (Zantel)

Millicom Group has announced its plan to commence a comprehensive network modernization for its recent acquisition- Zanzibar Telecom (Zantel).

Speaking after the first board meeting of Zantel since Millicom’s acquisition of the 85% of the Zantel shares from Etisalat, Chief Executive Officer Africa division of Millicom group, Mrs. Cynthia Gordon said the exercise would entail improvement on voice, data and network modernization for enhanced capacity and much improved quality of service.

‘Millicom will be supporting significant growth and expansion of the company’s operations in the country aimed to help Zantel lead the market in Zanzibar with the most innovative services, and of course increase its coverage and improve connectivity’ said Mrs. Gordon

Millicom is also keen to strengthen its partnership with the government of Zanzibar, which retains a 15% in Zantel, and ensure it is nurtured for the betterment of the people of Zanzibar.

‘As a leading telecom operator in Zanzibar, we can’t emphasize enough how important our partnership with the Zanzibar government is, and through that our commitment to the people of Zanzibar.

‘It is because of this that Millicom will ensure the Zanzibari community is empowered through various corporate social responsibility projects’ says Rachel Samrén, who is Executive Vice President, External Affairs at Millicom and the Chair of Zantel’s new board of Directors.

Also speaking at the conference, Zantel Chief Executive Officer, Benoit Janin said Zantel is going to launch the first ever 4G LTE network in Zanzibar, which is aimed at reinforcing Zantel’ s leadership in broadband and customer experience.

‘Zantel is going to leverage Millicom’s culture of excellence and performance bringing a new era for Zantel where we are going to reenergize the current brand and increase the quality of service, improve mobile money services and expand areas of support for the community ’ said Benoit.

Benoit, who has also recently visited Zanzibar and met employees there, noted that all the employees had confidence in moving together towards achieving making sure Zantel remains Zanzibar’s leading telecom Company.

In 2016, Zantel will launch exciting new customer offers such as national roaming country wide, extended 3G services and 4G launch, and improved mobile financial services, taking Zantel to its next level.