Telecel introduces more than 70 Wi-Fi Hotspots. How do you compete with free?

Telecel has over the past couple of months quietly launched a Wi-Fi network for its subscribers. With just a little more 70 Wi-Fi hotspots in Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare and Victoria Falls, the company is offering subscribers a faster way to access the internet as well as cheaper bundles  ($1 a GB).

It was long overdue and Techzim is glad Telecel is finally doing something about it.

To use the Telecel Wi-FI hotspots customers will need to activate the service and buy bundles via the *480# menu. Here are the available bundles:

Telecel is however entering a market that’s already dominated by one player, ZOL.

ZOL currently has some 670 hotspots around the country, and it doesn’t help matters for Telecel that these hotspots offer free access for an hour to anyone, even those without ZOL accounts. It’s hard to compete with free, so no prizes for guessing whose hotspot customers will connect to when Telecel Wi-Fi and ZOLspot show up on their phones.

And it’s not just ZOL. There’s TelOne and Dandemutande (Yo Africa Chilli spots & Maxspots) too. And Econet offers WiFi on the same spots as ZOL. Aside: it’s a bit strange that Econet charges for Wi-Fi on the same spot that ZOL provides it free, unless there’s something we don’t get.

Back to Telecel, essentially Techzim thinks Telecel will have to rework this offering so they can compete effectively against free. It’s great they have started all the same.

Here’s the list of locations where you will find a Telecel WiFi hotspot: