Robberies worry telecommunication service providers

Telecommunication service providers in Malawi have expressed concern over increased cases of attacks on their airtime agents in Mzimba.

The service providers expressed the concern last Thursday at a meeting they jointly held with the police in Mzuzu.

According to reports, the Malawi Telecommunications Limited (MTL) lost K300 000 (about $1 796) in two robberies in February whereas Telecom Networks Malawi (TNM) lost K3.5 million (about $20 958) in three attacks.

Sub-inspector Maxwell Chimphonda of Mzuzu Police Station said airtime distributors are easy targets of robbers because they use motorcycles.

Chimphonda said the situation is aggravated by the fact that airtime agents do both the distribution and collection of cash from shops.

MTL Mzuzu Service Centre manager Moses Jere said the meeting was fruitful as it came up with ways to reduce the cases of robbery.

Jere said the meeting agreed to screen people involved in airtime distribution.

“We have agreed that we need to know our airtime agents and where they come from. Police, too, need to know them so that when such cases happen they should have an idea on how to deal with them,” he said.