State-owned mobile network operator, NetOne Cellular yesterday announced that it would be increasing data bundle tariffs today. And like many, I was expecting a modest rise in prices however what I saw when I went to NetOne’s One-Fi bundles scared the life out of me…
NetOne One-Fi Bundle Prices
| Bundle | Old Price (ZWL$) | New Price (ZWL$) |
|---|---|---|
| One-Fi 10GB | $4 500 | $16 250 |
| One-Fi Plus 25GB | $6 500 | $40 700 |
| One-Fi Ultra 50GB | $10 250 | $81 400 |
| One-Fi Extreme 80GB | $12 500 | $99 000 |
The headline figure there is ZWL$99,000 for 80 GB, which is a crazy increase from the ZWL$12,500 that was gazetted in December 2021. However, the lower cap of 10GB for ZWL$16,250 is probably going to hit harder than most because the entry-level bundle has gone up by more than three and a half times.
At these sorts of prices, it might be best to switch to ZOL’s Wibroniks or Telco’s Wi-Max if you are using these bundles for work or school. The initial cost of the investment (for equipment and installation) might be expensive but at the moment it’s probably not worth paying ZWL$99,000 for 80GB when you can get 100GB on ZOL’s Wibroniks for ZWL$12,790 or Small Office uncapped for ZWL$47,088.
Furthermore the new One-Fi prices according to the auction rate of USD1:ZWL124 (as of the 22nd of February 2022) are:
- 10 GB for ZWL$16 250 – US$131.00
- 25 GB for ZWL$40 700 – US$328.23
- 50 GB for ZWL$81 400 – US$656.45
- 80 GB for ZWL$99 000 – US$798.39
All of this begs the question as to what rate NetOne uses for these bundle prices in local currency because those prices in USD are more than what people are paying for home fibre uncapped packages. Also, we called NetOne customer services to ask if these new prices were an error and we were told that they are correct…
Anyway, here is the rest of NetOne’s new data bundle price adjustment…
NetOne general data bundle prices
| Package | New Price (ZWL$) |
|---|---|
| Hourly 1GB | 1 625.00 |
| Hourly 1GB (valid for 2 Hrs) | 1 625.00 |
| Daily 30MB | 47.70 |
| Daily 80MB | 127.00 |
| Daily 200MB | 318.00 |
| Daily 480MB | 765.00 |
| Daily 960MB | 1 525.00 |
| Daily 1200MB | 1 910.00 |
| Weekly 30MB | 47.50 |
| Weekly 60MB | 95.50 |
| Weekly 160MB | 255.00 |
| Weekly 350MB | 555.00 |
| Weekly 700MB | 1 115.00 |
| Weekly 5000MB | 7 950.00 |
| Monthly 200 MB | 318.00 |
| Monthly 450MB | 715.00 |
| Monthly 1500MB | 2 390.00 |
| Monthly 3500MB | 5 550.00 |
| Monthly 5000MB | 7 950.00 |
| Monthly 8000MB | 12 700.00 |
New One Fusion data bundle prices
| Package | Price | Package |
|---|---|---|
| OneFusion Lite | 1 800.00 | – 15 Mins OnNet – 5 Minutes OffNet – 180MB Data – 90MB WhatsApp – 5 SMS Valid for 30 days |
| OneFusion Gold | 3 550.00 | – 25 Mins Voice OnNet – 10 Mins OffNet – 400MB Data – 160MB WhatsApp – 25 SMS Valid for 30 days |
| OneFusion Premium | 9 300.00 | – 80 Mins Voice OnNet – 60 Mins OffNet – 5 Mins International Calls – 1GB Data – 360MB WhatsApp – 30 SMS Valid for 30 days |
NetOne Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram bundle prices
| – | Price | Package | Valid for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily | 31.80 | 20MB | 24 hours |
| Daily | 79.50 | 50MB | 24 hours |
| Weekly | 111.00 | 70MB | 7 days |
| Weekly | 238.00 | 150MB | 7 days |
| Monthly | 478.00 | 300MB | 30 days |
| Monthly | 1 190.00 | 750MB | 30 days |
When will it end?
This price increase will surely have a knock-on effect on the other operators. And it stands to reason that NetOne got the go-ahead from the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (POTRAZ) to increase the prices, especially that astronomical jump in the One-Fi packages.
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32 comments
It’s not that surprising, really! You have a ruined currency, rampant inflation, a greedy lot in power, which most of you seem happy to keep in place, and no hope of any of that (or anything else for that matter), improving al all! Add to that, a bunch of control freaks, hell-bent on restricting internet access, and VOILA! Not something which even might improve in the long term!
It’d be interesting to see how much that translates to in USD as well! Might look more reasonable then…
Even in USD that’s absurd to say the least.
The article states the price equivalent in usd
mmmm it is surprising, even at a rate of 250 it costs USD 396 to get 80gb, and this is the state-owned, the only way this can make sense is if they are using price to keep people off the internet. We can even get up to June with current inflation levels and this still wont make sense.
I hope econet doesn’t follow suit. I will have to just give up if they do. They are closing companies accounts for money laundering and their own parastatal is going crazy with prices
Stupid this has zpf written all over, this is a crime against humanity. At a time where most students are doing online learning. Wabba labba dub dub.
Was that just a Rick and Morty quote 😅?…pain
It seems as always they are approaching the problem from the wrong end. They will reduce the digital divide by sending all of us back to the 1970s because we can’t afford Internet 🙄😭
That lot aren’t even in the 1970’s… More like the days of ancient Greece and Rome! Xenon’s right as well. Greedy, destructive zpf is certainly in on it!
I wanted to say the dark ages but thought that might be a bit mean
Not really Anonymous… Think more caveman days though… No power, no water, no money…
That’s zpf’s plan, unfortunately Anonymous! They’re control freaks, have no clue as to how to put right what they’ve ruined over the last four decades, and there’s no hope whatsoever of improvement whilst they’re still at the helm… If, and only IF, there’s some credible, viable opposition to zpf, and voters make a concerted effort to give that opposition a chance, will there be even a hope of improvement…
So it would seem
VPN users watch out , If you are to repay the stolen data using these prices , its all doom and no gloom .
These guys have gone truly nuclear. We speak of digital economy then we shoot ourselves in the foot.
Those rates are not even reasonable at street rates
Anybody with the current zol packages? I wld have googled them but I’m out of data kkkkkkk
See follow up article. They compare prices
Thanks 👊🏽
Its just a way of keeping people off the net.
Дa, Точно, Кремль! (Yes, Exactly Kremlin!) Couldn’t resist putting that in Russian there!
Someone messed up somewhere big time. You’ll see a review shortly.
One can literally buy 100gb worth of power hour data on Econet for the price being quoted for the One Fi ten gigs. Dear Lord…. forgive us for our sins
How come to you sooo vanhu veNetone, mukumbotembei
I guess ‘Zimbabweans can’t afford internet access’ is a better headline than ‘Zimbabwean Government shuts off internet as elections loom’.
ON BEHALF OF ALL CITIZENS AND THE INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT(C10) .I WANT TO ENCOURAGE NETONE USERS TO START USING DROID . THIS IS A COMMAND FROM US AS THE C10 DEPARTMENT
DROIDS VPN PLEASE
I think pana bharanzi aisa ma Megabytes pa field ye Price coz mmm…
I think these tariffs are for between now and end of March. They will revert to reasonable thereafter.
Unfortunately Doug, those prices will never come down, in ZWD / ZWE, or whatever the latest labelling is, for the “currency” they have now. March will see another “review” of prices, their way of saying “increase”, as nothing will ever come down in price. It’s just like everything else. Prices will rocket and there’ll be another round of millions, billions etc, before the whole thing implodes yet again!
Pakashata
The bundle is now very expressive 😌
Netone manyama