Operations of Zambia Telecommunications have been normalized following the end of a three-week strike by workers who were pressing management for higher salaries and improved conditions of services.

Employees returned to work last week after Minister of Communications and Transport Dora Siliya threatened them with punitive action. Siliya also called the strike illegal and told the workers to go back to the negotiating table with management.

Zamtel lacks the money to increase the workers' salaries because it is currently operating at a loss, she noted.

"Zamtel's solution does not lay in the removal of management or pumping more money into the company," Siliya said at a press briefing on Monday.

Rather, the Zambian government is currently seeking ways of saving Zamtel from total collapse, either through privatization or commercialization, she said.

Zamtel is a government-run communication company that owns, operates and sub-leases communication infrastructure to other service providers operating in Zambia.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.