Airtel spells out ICT trump card

ENHANCED communication increases productivity as information is accessed almost instantly thus breaking time and location barriers, Airtel Managing Director, Apoorva Mehrotra, has said.

Mr Mehrotra said technology had continued to improve people’s lives in many spheres because communication had been enhanced. He was speaking at the 2020 ICT Business Innovations Conference in Lusaka. “The truth is that technology continues to improve our lives in many spheres because with enhanced communication there is an increase in productivity as information is accessed almost instantly thus breaking time and location barriers,” he said. Mr Mehrotra said Information Communication Technology (ICT) had an impact on nearly every aspect of people’s lives including, education, work, health and socialising. Airtel, he said, recognised the importance of ICT integration in the education system and had continued to supplement Government’s efforts in the provision of computers and free internet connectivity to schools countrywide. “For an industry like ours, we cannot think about a future workforce without thinking about technology and how a portion of our workforce is comprised of technicians and engineers who are needed for expanding, maintaining and innovating the mobile platform,” he said. Mr Mehrotra said an example of how technology had changed the face of the world was through Airtel’s innovative service called Airtel Money. Through the Airtel Money platform, he explained, the company was in its own way helping push the financial inclusion agenda as it strive to reach more of the unbanked people especially in the rural areas. He said it was also hoped that more and more people would become financially included as the Agent Network continues to expand and more services get added on the Mobile Money Platform. “Mobile money services are growing at a fast pace in Zambia and as per latest UNCDF report over 50 percent of the adult population has access to Digital Financial Services,’ Mr Mehrotra said. He applaud the Government for beginning to undertake policy, legal and institutional reforms to facilitate universal access to ICT and promote the use of ICT in business (e-Commerce); networking of services and applications across the public sector.