All news and updates written by Clinton Mutambo, at Techzim

Pictures: The Green Fuel Chisumbanje site tour

After setting off on a 500km journey this morning, we arrived in Chisumbanje and Middle Sabi to witness sheer miracles at work. Green Fuel Zimbabwe is hard at work building Africa’s biggest ethanol plant. We’re still touring the place and managed to get a good VSAT connection to upload the following pictures:

June 29, 20115

Connectivity

VimpelCom Group: Telecel’s new Russian Parent

We’ve just found out that VimpelCom; the Russian based telecom’s giant recently merged with Egypt’s Orascom. What this effectively means is that Telecel Zimbabwe is now part of the world’s sixth largest mobile services group (with over 186 million subscribers worldwide). Orascom has a 60% stake in Telecel Zimbabwe. The local operation falls into the Orasom-VimpelCom group’s African interests along with Leo (Namibia), Telecel (Burundi & Central African Republic), Djeezy (Algeria), and Mobinil (Egypt).

June 28, 20113

Broadband Connectivity

Dotmore: Telone’s branded broadband services unmasked

A big blue dot has ‘graced’ local papers over the past month with nothing more than a coming soon tagline. Yesterday’s Sunday Mail finally unmasked the dot that had aroused a lot of curiosity, it seems that even non techies we spoke to were trying to figure out its identity. Dotmore is TelOne’s branded offering for broadband.

June 27, 201119

Connectivity

SEACOM: Mozambique agrees to Zim connection

Zimbabwe is poised to benefit from a deal announced yesterday between SEACOM and Telecomunicacoes de Mocambique (TDM), Mozambique’s telecoms parastatal. The company has been granted the go ahead to connect our landlocked country to the undersea cable. This is expected to have a positive impact on corporate and individual consumers in the not too distant future.

June 23, 201112

Connectivity

Africa’s Telecoms Titans: MTN Group

Africa’s Telecoms Titans is a series by Techzim profiling the top 20 leading mobile operators on the continent. Each segment focuses on a specific mobile operator with insights into services provided including marketing and technical competencies.

June 22, 201113

Miscellaneous

Econet Energy: Well placed to power Southern Africa

Renewable energy is a sector on flux. Global greats like Google have risen to the challenges imposed by global warming and rising demand for energy through investments in sustainable power sources. Solar City is one such company that has benefitted from the energy race; Google has invested $280 million so far in the company. For the sake of continuity let’s think of Econet as our local equivalent of a Google of sorts; in such a scenario Econet Energy has a very solid shot at becoming a regional energy titan.

June 21, 20116

Connectivity

Powertel headhunts for troops

A big vacancy ad from Powertel appeared in yesterday’s Sunday Mail, by the looks of it the company is bolstering its forces for a major onslaught. In these interesting of times, Powertel regrets the major advances enemy camps have gained at its expense.

June 20, 20115

Broadband

The infamous pirate Jack Sparrow plagues local ISPs

It feels like yesterday when l was starting up an experiential marketing business. One of my clients was Ster Kinekor Theatres. I vividly remember the regional GM regularly flying into Zim for reconnaissance meetings; each time we ran through the SWOT analysis one bugger kept popping up! Ster Kinekor HQ (South Africa) placed a bounty on this bugger by bringing in SAFACT (Southern African Federation Against Copyright Theft) but it seemed like no one gave a hoot locally. After carrying out a research survey we ‘discovered’ that approximately 60% of our market were buying movies on the street, at Avondale or the Village flee market…Those were interesting times…it appears as if they’ve taken a new twist.

June 17, 201119

Connectivity

Local websites need to shape up

In a bid to improve the general quality of local web products, we have posted articles here before about 'broken websites', especially those by ICT service providers. The local web development sector seems to be suffering from a very devastating plague (that is strangely limited to it), this in turn is not doing any justice whatsoever to Zimbabwean companies. We have carried out an emergency diagnosis and discovered the following symptoms:

June 15, 201148

Broadband Miscellaneous

Cruz Reader tablet giveaway: Spot what’s missing

As you enter Harare’s CBD, a couple of massive billboards scream for your attention. They form a key part of Econet’s goliath advertising blitz. We spotted something missing from this particular ad, and thought of it as a great way to hold a competition.

June 14, 201160

Miscellaneous

G-Fuel set to revolutionise local energy sector

Zimbabwe’s erratic energy supplies are a stumbling block for the proliferation of ICT to propel the economy. The country is dependent on its neighbours for fuel supplies and owes mammoth debts to regional electricity producers. It has also not kept up with rest of the world’s quest to find sustainable energy sources. Fossil fuels are key culprits of global warming and finite in the sense that they are running out.

June 10, 20114

Connectivity

Get Ready: Zimbabwe will be a competitive BPO hub

In an increasingly globalised world, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) has taken developing countries by storm. By consistently underpricing developed markets, thousands of jobs and opportunities are being created at breakneck speeds everyday. This article seeks to provide a bird’s eye view of the sector with regards to Zimbabwe’s shot at becoming a competitive hub on the continent and within the greater Southern Hemisphere. We’re not quite sure when exactly the BPO boom began, we are more than certain however of the fact that it’s a very lucrative sector to enter for entrepreneurs and this nation.

June 7, 20111

Broadband

Broadlands narrowing in on 5G?

Going over reports from the ICT global conference held in Harare last week, we came across something that made us stop. It’s a report published by “The Zimbabwean” that basically says Broadlands Networks is preparing to launch a 5G network. Here’s an extract from the report:

June 6, 201111

Connectivity

Samsung’s first official store in Zimbabwe

Joina City has freshened up Harare’s shopping scene; it’s good to note that top notch brands like Samsung have landed to serve the local market. Samsung’s aggressive foray into Africa is well documented as it is charging across the continent to address markets that other prominent brands are foolishly ignoring. Football fanatics (albeit Chelsea F.C fans) should vividly remember the brand’s ads that show up before particular matches, featuring three African master- players. Rather than focusing on the obvious popularity of football as a marketing vehicle, such ads show a perceived respect for African consumers by the brand. It’s only few tech brands that have designed ads specifically for the African market on a continental scale…

June 2, 201135

Broadband

Ever been to Dongle-wanaland?

If you either hated history or fell asleep halfway through the lesson; Gondwanaland was a great big continental block that contained what we refer to as Africa, India, Australia, and other sub-continents. Its existence is based on theoretical assumptions related to the earth’s evolution.

June 1, 201119

Broadband

ICT incumbents, the times they are a-changin’

I’ve met more than enough Zimbabweans (geeks and ordinary humans alike) who feel that the local ICT sector is not up to scratch. When asked to specify what being “up to scratch” is, most immediately and rather animatedly set off an explosive cache of various beliefs, facts and figures. However correct some of the well informed opinion holders may be, there are a few cold facts that have rendered their sentiments to the confines of wishful thinking. They are as follows:

May 30, 20116