Kofi ran and returned with the TopStar carton. Inside was the decoder, remote, cables, and the most important piece of plastic—the with a 13-digit number on it. Without that number, activation was impossible.
He went back to *878#, chose , then selected “Zambia Package” (K70/month). It included the main local channels, Super League matches, and a few news stations. He confirmed the payment from his mobile money.
TopStar uses a system called , powered by Zambian mobile money. Mr. Banda had an Airtel line. He dialled *115# and selected “Buy Airtime,” loading K30 onto his phone. But the activation fee was K80. He called his neighbour, Mrs. Chilufya, who sent him K50 via MTN Mobile Money. Within two minutes, his mobile wallet had K80. how to activate topstar decoder zambia
Mr. Banda kept refreshing the decoder by unplugging it for 10 seconds and plugging it back in. After 5 minutes, nothing. After 10 minutes, nothing. Kofi started crying.
At minute 14, the screen flickered. The blue screen vanished. Suddenly, the ZESCO United team was jogging onto the pitch, the crowd singing. Kofi ran and returned with the TopStar carton
But when Mr. Banda pressed the power button on the TopStar decoder, the TV screen showed only a blue abyss and a single line of text:
“Kofi, where’s the box?” Mr. Banda shouted. He went back to *878#, chose , then
Immediately, a confirmation SMS arrived: “TopStar: Payment received. Your service will be activated within 15 minutes. Smartcard: 1234567890123”