It’s not just Econet Wireless and Telecel that have been forced by POTRAZ to suspend their promotions, NetOne has also received a regulatory directive to halt airtime bonuses.
The state owned mobile network operator issued a press statement announcing the suspension of its Data Bundles Reloaded and Bundles Reappear Promotions.
The suspension will take effect on the 4th of August 2016 (today) at 6pm.
Over the past week, Econet and Telecel have notified their subscribers of an indefinite suspension on specific promotions following the instruction issued by POTRAZ.
No explanation has been provided by POTRAZ for the directive and the operators have so far failed to give the reason behind it.
The move has been criticised by subscribers since the promotions which offer discounts on voice, SMS and data, have offered some relief from the high tariffs that are charged for mobile telecoms service.
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14 comments
This in effect is collusion facilitated by the regulator. I hope the consumer council of Zimbabwe takes on Potraz with the anti competitions tarrifs commission. Is this directive lawful, most definitely its illegal. The regulator makes more money when networks make more money and is prepared to stifle competition and facilitate collusion between networks at the expense of the consumer
WHAT IS GOING ON ???
i think this is a way of slowing the down the usage of whatsapp,remember a revolution is in progress as we speak.
man fidza, you got it. the govt is trying to kill the flow of messages through cheap bundles.
This has nothing to do with economics. This is starkly a olitical move to decapitate whatsapp & facebook communications. We are very consistent in making political decisions ahead of economic ones. Wheres Supa in all this. What long story does he have claiming not to be interested in stifling internet connectivity.
They are just looking for more money
These promotions are now getting out of hand. Some of them would last 3days. I mean WTF! I’m sure Econet had at least 10 promotions running concurrently. Just make your services cheaper and stop hiding behind these promos.
yep u have a point there, esp econet bt pa netone pandirwadza from 102 mbs>17mbs for $1. I didn’t know that was a promo I always thought that wz the price
Isu vamwe tajaira zvakachipa what are we going to do veduwee?
Haaaaaa pakaipa kuuraya isu varombo tangatajaira zvakachipa ……….
Consumer activist Mr Gwatidzo is on record saying tariffs are significantly higher than justified for astute investment, efficienct operations and fair profitability. Potraz has kept tariffs artificially high exposing naive approach to operators and scant regard for consumers. The myriad of never ending promotions expose this truth. Operators are have jostled in a price competition dressed as promotions , often dubious, as Potraz’ slept. According to Gwatidzo, there is too much fat in the tariffs and these must be reduced across services. That is what consumers must clam our for, not magic rides on bundles bundling theft from consumers.
Promotions are meant to encourage usage and not lower down the costs. Its a marketing strategy. The problem with Potraz and gvt way of thinking is they never think things through. They rush to make decisions without considering the pros and cons.
For instance the taking away of promotions could result in less internet usage thereby severely decreasing revenue,in this case their assumption is that people will now buy more airtym to cater for the additional hours or minutes they were getting from promotions. This may turn out to be totally incorrect but I guess time will tell.
I doubt the taking away of promotions will result in less dialogue over the internet.
I must say Potraz has disappointed me.
Its convincing me to leave Zim unfortunately.
Zvekupenga izvo