The country’s largest mobile network operator, Econet yesterday launched its 5G service in Bulawayo at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF2022). This was at the company’s very impressive ZITF2022 installation which dwarfed what was in the main hall, we even started chucking figures, guessing as to how much Econet paid to reserve such a large space. Anyway, after we got a tour of what the staff called “the Econet Experience“, the MNO launched its 5G service.
You can check out the Econet 5G event as well as a tour of their ZITF2022 installation with the player below. Alternatively, you can watch it directly on YouTube with the link here.
So for those who might not know, Econet already has a 5G base station at Avondale and the launch of their Bulawayo installation was much the same as what we saw in Harare. In the demonstration, we got yesterday the live test registered speeds of 1.1Gbps and they were able to download a 2.5 GB game in 25 seconds.
Impressive speeds, but this is similar to what we witnessed at the Harare launch. The only difference between the Econet’s 5G events in Harare and Bulawayo is that the former is running Ericsson equipment and the latter is using ZTE. Since the 5G hardware is being added to existing base stations, they have to match the brand of equipment on the site, which for the ZITF site is ZTE.
As for 5G base stations, there are 6 that are already live in the city of kings. If you want to give it a spin you can go to the following sites:
- Econet Shop
- NSSA House
- ZITF
- NRZ
- Anchor House
- Rainbow Hotel
8 comments
Zimbabwe soo. I would have hoped that they’d at least bring in about 10 base stations for a start or enough to cover the CBDs.
Possibly it managed to achieve that speed because that could be the only client who was connected and downloading🤷🤷🤷. Are the same speeds achievable when just ten subscribers are connected?🤔🤔🤔
🤣🤣🤣 that’s a point right there
😋😋Finish putting base stations in rural areas first aizve kumwe aisati yaveko 3G zvayo and matoenda ku5 G
A GREAT INNOVATION BUT ALSO CONTINUE TO CONSIDER THE COVERAGE TO REACH RURAL AREAS Even in some towns the 4 G network is still inconsistent. There is need to perfect on coverage that is to include all geographical areas in the network, well done because there are areas which have been improved in Matebeleland South such as Bulilima Mangwe that is an awesome work. Thank you for remembering Mat South.
Well done Econet on 5G, but there has to be some adjustment on the bundles because a speed test will most likely deplete most of the bundles, also I think Liquid should also look at the home users because home speeds are still less than 100Mbps.
Apana apa KU bindura kune nzvimbo isingatobate 2G chaiyo moti hee 5G
I’m Looking forward to it. 🧐