Econet has also introduced a new 10MB data bundle priced at US $1.65. Also a reduction per megabyte. The 5MB bundle remains and its price revised downwards by 15%. This is all not very significant of course but it’s a move in the right direction for us consumers and so we welcome it with a smile.
Here are the new prices:
- 5MB for $0.85
- 10MB for $1.65
- 55MB for $9
- 125MB for $20
- 250MB for $40
- 600MB for $75
- 1.2GB for $98
And the old ones for comparison:
- 5MB for $1
- 50MB for $10
- 100MB for $20
- 200MB for $40
- 500MB for $75
- 1GB for $98
19 comments
Meh….still too expensive!
These Econ$t Guys are not serious SA Vodacom Prices are as follows. Bare in mind that the average South African income for a Black Person is US$ 1 714.00 :
8MB for $1.30
30MB for $ 4.00
110MB for $12.00
175MB for $17.00
300MB for $19.80
600MB for $27.00
1.2 Gb for $41.30
In Zim the Average income is prob $200.00, Econ$t Who are these prices FOR???
There is barely any price reduction here… Maybe re-packaging…
with vodacom u pay only 0.024 US cents per MB or rand 0.17 cents per MB. for 2.2 Gb i’m just only paying R389.00. divide by 7 the price is US $55.57 for 2.2 GB and econet is charging $98 per 1.2GB. This is day light robbery
its not exactly fair to expect the Vodacom pricing here in Zim. take this, the cable to the undersea recently laid is up to beitbridge and from there the local player has to ride on another service provider to the sea where they connect to seacom/eassy. as such there is no way pricing for internet will be the same in zim, besides, we coming from a period of economic decadance during which no infrastructural investments were possible, definitely not econet`s doing. our service providers do lag behind and they are doing everything possible to catch up. i say good move ecinet, yes more needs to be done but these guys are in the right direction
Is this what the SA consultants recommended? or what did they recommend?
I think we are all missing some important points here. Firstly pricing is dependant on the infrastructure you put down. Econet has just suffered a heavy CAPEX, but as it recovers from the initial investment prices will come down. You should also bear in mind that Zimbabwe is Land locked therefore internet comes by way of fibre through other carriers or by satellite which we know is expensive.
Therefore the pricing formula is International bandwidth + Transit banwidth + mark up + initial capex = our price
for voda in sa they are looking at international bandwidth + mark up only.
Powertel Uncapped (CDMA) = (After costs Inc Tax) $50
Africom 1Gb (CDMA) = (After costs Inc Tax) $15-$20
Econet 1Gb (3g) = (After costs Inc Tax) $98
@ Zimstyles your logic sounds convincing but the numbers are anything but logical. If anything the numbers above show that IT IS possible for companies to profitably offer internet services in Zimbabwe at affordable rates.
I personally think that Econ$t is trying to get their full investment value back in time for 4g and or other faster and cheaper technologies. The fact I imagine is that they are trying to get their Zim-dollar era investment back in such a short time because they know that soon someone will introduce 4g or other faster technologies that will easily out-compete and out-price their 3g service. Budget internet service provider Powertel for example I’ve been told is introducing a ‘new’ technology that will be ‘faster’ and ‘cheap’ ‘very soon’, meanwhile who knows what’s brewing in the Africom warehouse or Telone skunk works? Telecel we all know is rolling out their 3G service soon and they have gained themselves a fierce reputation for being overzealous at ridiculously out pricing their competition. As I write this comment trenches are being dug some, metaphoric king others literal fiber optic trenches.
ZIMBABWE IS GOING INTO A WAR!!! of the internet prices. Econ$t Wireless wants to leach as much money as possible from the PEOPLE before competitors zero in their scopes on its head. So to my dear techno-comrades who have shallow pockets like mine, let us endure these oppressive prices for soon my dear comrades VERY SOON the price revolution will commence and the internet will be the for the PEOPLE!!! (cheering and applause!).
Hey,
I was just looking at your pricing and the comparison that you carried out. The reality on the ground is the fact that Powertel barely performs up to spec. You can depending on your device hit 7megabits on econet. Also look at africom and powertel, where do they get their bandwidth and what does it cost them..They have alternative routes that are cheaper (Africom gets from Powertel I believe)
I am not justifying the pricing completely but i am saying that econet has invested so heavily in infrastructure and is the only network bringing bandwidth from seacom where once i hit london internet exchange i am only 1ms away from facebook, youtube, google etc.
We are looking at quality of service rather than pricing per mb. Powertel and Africom enjoy some interesting down times, I am also positive that you never get more than 512k.
I think what would actually help is if Mr Kabweza does some download comparisons.
Also the reductions from Econet I am sure will not stop here, but rather continue as they do recover from the capex.
As of two weeks ago, I have been able to make Video calls over 3G. I am also now tied into my local VOIP line as well as an international VOIP line. These are services that i could never use. I also welcome the fact that with Video Calls the service is not limited to Zimbabwe 3G phones but i have had success making such calls to friends in SA who are on Vodacom.
Powertel has been in the game for ages and laid down its fibre ages ago. They are simply now enjoying inflows with relatively low out flows. I also know that the Powertel Fibre network is not redundant and as you are all aware when the internet goes down thats that. Econets network does not face that challenge given they have an alternative to seacom.
at what cost zimstyles? That is the major question. QoS or not, at the end of the day your product has to be purchasable to the public.
Econet is only lucky because they were quite the good network when they started, with real customer care and reasonable rates on products… that is the ONLY reason why u still have many of your customers. Nothing to do with service. We still need those 0772****** numbers for all the contacts who have know us from Econet’s genesis. If it wasnt for that, i would gleefully roast my Econet sim and celebrate with a marshmallow to keep it company. you really have to worry about your new clients. 0773+ numbers may not guarantee you the loyalty that your first number have. You will lose them, so do something and dont stick your head in the sand and only rise up to tell us how good you are.
you talk of CAPEX as though it is supposed to be a burden the consumer. the consumer is not an investor! are you not one of the best capitalised listed companies on the ZSE? why would you ever pass it on to the consumer. that is bad, bad reasoning. do a rights issue? why are u listed than to fund your activities?
econet is the M$oft of telecoms in Zim.
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telecel is performing ok. but definitely not as fast as econet…at other times. It is free, after all. Our computers are enjoying good health with updates and we get to download our fav. apps. we will definitely judge them for their service too.
Yes you make some very valid points the first one is customer is king. If you do not take care of the customer you loose loyalty, your brand is damaged and well at the end of the day you are no longer number 1.
In normal countries such projects such as the fiber project to seacom would have been done by government parastatals and probably financed by twenty year bonds. Take a look at the proposed R5bn project that is currently under planning in South Africa to bring fibre to the home in Six cities… Given the case in Zimbabwe we do not have the ability to ride on government infrastructure for reliable communications so you find its the private sector funding these initiatives.
Because its a listed company shareholders expect returns on investments, so yes you may not own econet shares but someone does…thats why we are taking up some of the capex in badnwidth pricing.
Telecel I can not comment on yet as I have not tested it thoroughly but will get back to you in a week or so after i have tried the dongle some more…
I’m forced to agree with you…TO A CERTAIN EXTENT! Zimstyles Don’t you think the only reason that Econ$t is fast at the moment is because the user base is significantly reduced. You must remember that this is the very same infrastructure that tried and failed to support a lot of users when the cost was more affordable. Econ$t or any other service provider in Zim for that matter does not have the capacity to support a lot of users. This means that your comparison of Powertel or Telecel speeds vs Econ$t speeds is not valid per se. What determines speeds in Zim I think is the User base , Powertel was FAST!!! when it started but as consumers moved from Econ$t to Powertel, powertel became slower while Econ$t speeds improved.
Your Seacom argument also falls apart because the only advantage of connecting directly to the seacom cable to my knowledge is reduced cost(technically) and increased reliability not necessarily increased speed. Companies buy fixed bandwidth at specific speeds for certain prices, whether the connection is routed or re-routed does not change that (speed bandwidth etc), an advantage Econ$t might have is that they are not affected by third party faults or down time which quickly turns into a disadvantage if Econ$t does not have a robust enough system to monitor and maintain the cable from here to Moz shoreline efficiently. In other words lets say Telone uses Bots Telecoms for their bandwidth and their cable develops a fault on the Bots side, telone is guaranteed that resources are in place on the Bots side to fix the problem immediately without Telone having to mobilize or contract some one to fix the problem at Telone’s cost and and the consumers time. Many cables are jointly owned to reduce costs, maybe if Econ$t shares their cable they might be able to reduce the cost of running it they shouldn’t transfer such self imposed costs to the consumer that’s not our problem. Like tinm@n said if companies want to recover investment costs they get investors not hike up prices to ridiculous levels. You should realise that Econ$t has a significantly reduced wage bill thanks to Zim economics and that should reflect in their pricing.
their price reduction is insignificant, next to nothing other service shld up their game cz they r not giving Econet enough competition cz Econet knws ey we wil stil want their service cz ey r e best.other operators have to step and quickly so tht they get econet out of their comfort zone and giv us better prices
their price reduction is insignificant, next to nothing other service shld up their game cz they r not giving Econet enough competition cz Econet knws ey we wil stil want their service cz ey r e best.other operators have to step and quickly so tht they get econet out of their comfort zone and giv us better prices
How disappointing are those prices…Seriously. PowerTel keep it going.
still too expensive……………………as far as am concerned they (Econet) should only charge you when you actually download something not for just opening a webpage and your 1mb is gone. Come on how much bandwidth/data does a cellphone use up for just opening a single page.
We are still being MILKED………….yeah i said “MILKED”.
i agree with winston, econet is riding high on facebookers
No one mentioned something like ZOL. Does it not come in here as an ISP. I understand $con$t is one and so is Telecel. Or I’m totally lost!?
Data bundle prices are so ridiculous. Those prices must be reviewed/reduced by 50%. you are still going to make profit because out of ur 8 million subscribers, 75% or so will manage to purchase data mostly scholars unlike the rate u are having now. students need to research every now and then. you must also consider the poor class of our Zimbabwean community.