These financial transactions were collectively carried out on Airtel, MTN and Zamtel mobile money platforms in 2022.

Mutati said this during the unveiling of the MTN Enterprise Business Unit (EBU) in Lusaka on Friday.

“These are mobile money transfers that took place in 2022. This is basically us working together with the mobile operators creating the environment and platforms to transact,” Mutati said.

He said credit goes to the people of Zambia for using their mobile money accounts for financial transactions.

Mutati said this was the first time the country was recording financial transactions amounting to K170 billion compared to K95 billion in 2021.

“As far as money transfer is concerned our people are now comfortable to use the mobile phone rather than any other means of transfer,” Mutati said.

He said to get business done, there was need to build strong foundation that support sustained growth.

Mutati said the government in 2022 worked with the telecommunication sector in building trust to the customers by way of eliminating two million simcards that were being used for fraudulent activities.

“Building the trust for us means working with MTN and the sector in general. We have embarked on the road that this year by June we shall have no scratch cards …this simply means getting the job done,” he said.

Mutati said the government had revised the licensing regime for the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector to make it easier for Zambians to participate.

He said this would allow the small businesses to secure licenses in the ICT sector.

“Our philosophy is not the fees we get from the licenses, our philosophy is to make them as cheap as possible, when you make business you will also be able to pay taxes and more importantly create new opportunities.

“As government we are supporting the Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs) and ICT sector in general,” Mutati said.

He commended MTN Zambia and it’s partners for this major milestone which supports the government’s digital transformation agenda provided in the eighth National Development plan.

Speaking at the same event , MTN Zambia Chief Executive Officer Bart Hofker said businesses can leverage cutting-edge digital solutions to work smarter and improve internal efficiencies, productivity and profitability.

“As MTN, we have an intimate understanding of our customers’ needs as customer centricity is at core of our operations,” Hofker said.

He said the critical success factors of the EBU include advanced technology, a wide range of services and experienced team.

MTN Group EBU Executive said businesses encounter many challenges when they try to digitise their operations.

He said these include lack of infrastructure and enterprise.

EUB goes beyond telecommunication services to include Unified Communications, Internet of Things, Managed Network Services, Security as a service and cloud services.