Like clockwork, most large businesses have been using the RBZ’s latest Monetary Policy Statement as an excuse to hike prices and all of them are putting a spin on it. Well, Telone are taking the same road which is becoming a well-travelled road indeed.
You see the governor said all prices of goods in Zimbabwe were to be deemed to be now in RTGS$. These companies are simply saying when they set the original prices they were in USD. They are then proceeding to apply the new exchange rate and coming up with eye-popping figures.
Telone does the same
![](https://t3n9sm.c2.acecdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/telone_tariffs-min-560x814.jpeg)
It seems Telone is doing the same with International Call Tariffs-for now. The tariffs below are set to become effective from the 27th of March 2019. So if you are one of those people who constantly make international calls using Telone then enjoy it while it is cheaper because things are going to become very expensive.
Price $USD | Price RTGS$ | Price $USD | Price RTGS$ | ||
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Voice Calls | Peak | Off-Peak | |||
Sub-regional Group 1 |
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Sub-regional Group 2 |
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International Outgoing | |||||
Group 3 |
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Group 4 |
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Group 4 | Immarsat | 9.98 | 24.94 | 9.98 | 24.94 |
So here we are. If you relied on making international calls I think its time to look at alternatives. The problem with the 2.5 mentality is that it ignores two things:
- People’s revenues have not increased so hiking prices will not increase revenue because price elasticity applies especially to things like phone calls.
- The governor himself pointed out that most businesses, including ZOL, had already factored in the rate long before he announced the policy change. We all know it, nothing was supposed to change but here we are, even the government’s own entities hiking prices.
We, however, have to concede that some of these prices needed changing. I contend that changing them by multiplying them by 2.5 is disingenuous.
One response
Since our opinions are not considered much and this is business, we can only abscond and go back to sms and other cheaper means of communication.