• Zimbabwe mobile operators directed to disconnect unregistered SIMs

    There’s apparently “an upsurge in the number of offensive and abusive calls and text messages generated from unregistered sim cards” in Zimbabwe, a POTRAZ statement said today citing the reason it was issuing a directive to all mobile operators to disconnect unregistered subscribers with immediate effect. It came a bit as a surprise as all…

  • Pay Kombi Fares with EcoCash: Adoption

    The introduction of EcoCash payments in kombis was met by large scepticism in the market. Some of us doubted its practicality and questioned how the conductor was going to verify all the text messages and identify who made the payments. Surely the conductor doesn’t know everybody’s name and number. So does he have to check…

  • No, WhatsApp’s failure to connect has nothing to do with elections

    So, since last night complaints from Econet subscribers have have been hitting our tips mailbox, the issue being that they couldn’t WhatsApp anymore and that they suspected Econet “blocked WhatsApp”. The reason, according to the emails, was basically that politicians had instructed them to do so to limit any communication as #ZimDecides.

  • Telecel introduces Kingdom Bank financed devices for Red customers

    This week, the company announced a return to mobile phones, specifically, smartphones and tablets financed in partnership with Afrasia Kingdom.

  • The EcoCash mobile payments strategy and numbers: a case study by GSMA

    Recently, the GSM Association released a case study report they did on EcoCash this year. The case study focuses on EcoCash’s rapid uptake since launch in September 2011 with a look at how the company has managed to register 2.3 million Zimbabweans in under two years.

  • Zim broadband speed mini survey results: Telecel has the fastest broadband (Update)

    Surveys can yield the strangest results and the results for the mobile broadband speed survey were quite shocking in some aspects. According to the results Telecel, of all the mobile operators that grace our country with their service, is not only the fastest service provider in terms of internet speed but the most reliable as…

  • Mahindra Comviva introduces Square-like payments dongle for Mobiquity platform

    Over the past 3 or so years whenever we’ve met senior guys from local companies in the payments space we’ve asked them if they know Square and Square cloning. Square is basically a dongle that can be plugged to any phone through headphone jack, enabling the phone to accept credit card payments.

  • iWayAfrica in $55k loss for year ending December 2012

    The annual report released this past weekend by Masawara also had details of the financial performance of one other internet provider which Masawara has shareholding in; iWayAfrica Zimbabwe. The iWay business also made losses in the year ending 31 December 2012 albeit much lower than uMAX.

  • Mobile broadband speeds mini survey (survey)

    Last week we had a look at mobile broadband packages and their various applicable tariffs and some (myself included) of you were wondering about the quality of the service.

  • ZOL announces uncapped internet. Offers one of Zim’s lowest priced broadband

    As internet prices continue to fall in Zimbabwe, Liquid Telecom subsidiary ISP, ZOL, announced yesterday the introduction of unlimited internet to replace its capped packages. In a message to customers ZOL said that effective immediately all broadband packages will no longer incur additional usage charges as internet caps are “a very archaic method and it…

  • Guroo is Africom’s new VoIP service. Our initial thoughts

    You may have noticed Guroo over the past several days. Or Guro-o if we go by the new service’s domain name and logo. It’s a product by Africom and in case you are wondering how that’s pronounced, it’s ‘guru’ as in expert. It’s a new VoIP service the company has launched. Africa’s first, they are…

  • Comparison of mobile broadband tariffs in Zimbabwe

    Here’s a comparison of the tariffs of the mobile broadband services offered by Mobile Operators In Zimbabwe. We have included both the traditional GSM mobile operators, Telecel, Econet and NetOne, as well as new emerging mobile operators Africom and PowerTel. First we post the comparison, some notes to make sense of the data, and then…

  • NetOne introduces internet bundles for prepaid customers

    Of the three mobile operators in Zimbabwe, government owned NetOne is the only company that has been selling its internet service at a simple to understand flat US 7 cents per megabyte for all subscribers. That has changed today. The company announced the introduction of data bundles today

  • Harare city council bill payments latest addition to EcoCash uses

    Econet announced yesterday via an SMS to subscribers that residence of Harare can now pay their council bills (rates and water) using EcoCash as more practical use of the mobile money service are rolled out.

  • Why Skwama reloaded is real: Former top EcoCash executive now at Telecel

    We weren’t sure how direct an entry especially because she referred to it as “mobile banking”. New information we have received from sources in the industry says there indeed is a more direct mobile money project going on at Telecel.

  • Telecel Zimbabwe considering mobile money re-entry?

    Last year, Telecel Zimbabwe pulled a ‘surprise of the year’ move on all of us; A mobile operator killed its mobile money service. No one knows (well, except them and probably ZimSwitch) when exactly Skwama was killed because it was done silently, only to be disclosed when we asked about the disappeared product in September…

  • Afrocoin to compete with Mukuru, Western Union, EcoCash in remittances

    A new startup, Afrocoin Mobile Money, is set to launch in the coming months (or weeks,no idea right now) as a new player in the remittances and mobile money transfer market.

  • Telecel unleashes mega bonus on competing networks, effectively reduces tariffs!

    In a move clearly qualifying as “a first”, Telecel Zimbabwe has effectively reduced mobile voice call rates. Information we received says the company has extended its mega bonus promotion to cover off net calls.

  • Orascom Telecoms in talks with Government over the Telecel license renewal

    The Egyptian owners of Telecel Zimbabwe, Oracom Telecom, revealed yesterday that they are in talks to sort out the license renewal issues they have with the government and local telecommunications regulator, POTRAZ, in Zimbabwe. The information was posted by Netherlands based, Telecompaper.

  • New Zim and US eCommerce site, KhayaShopping, launches

    Without any widely adopted internet payments platform, despite the existence of Vpayments, and some EcoCash internet payment trials, eCommerce in Zimbabwe is struggling to take off. But there are startups that are moving in early regardless, positioning themselves for when the Zimbabwean will rely on the internet to shop.

  • Liquid expands in Rwanda with acquisition of new telecoms assets

    A report by Rwandan newspaper today, says Liquid Telecom, has acquired additional telecommunications assets from a former Rwandan mobile & internet operator under liquidation called Rwandatel.

  • Government to Telecel: Transfer shareholding to locals first to renew license

    The government of Zimbabwe has told Telecel Zimbabwe to sort out its long pending shareholding issues first, before they can be eligible for their mobile network license renewal. The announcement was made along with the announcement of the new license fees that have already been put in place. Telecel’s 15 year license, which they got…

  • Zim Government announces revised MNO license fees; it’s $137.5 million

    The Zimbabwean government (and by that we mean the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Infrastructural Development) has finally announced what looks like the final position on the mobile network operator license fee increase. It’s US $137.5 million and the license is for 20 years. It’s an increase from the previous figure of $100m for 15…

  • Zim government approves tax increase for telecoms & “mobile banking” to fund elections

    A report in the state owned Herald newspaper today says that government has approved an increase in taxes for ‘mobile network charges’ and ‘mobile banking charges’ apparently to fund an […]

  • Barclays will let you send money to anyone in Zimbabwe via an ATM

    Last week, Barclays announced a money transfer service called Cashsend that lets the bank’s customers with debit cards send money to anyone in Zimbabwe via an ATM. The service is one of the most innovative to come out of a bank in Zimbabwe and rivals other money transfer services on the market like EcoCash, Western…

  • African company introduces solar powered ‘business in a box’ phone charger

    Remember Econet’s Green Kiosk chargers? A Swaziland based company has just launched a solution along those lines, with the only difference that theirs is just the charging solution and it can be conveniently carried around easily.

  • Android & iPhone users: BBM to come to a device near you

    Apparently BlackBerry is just discovering now that if they could have looked beyond just inside their ecosystem 1for the growth of its much loved BlackBerry Messenger, they could have made it to the top messaging position WhatsApp occupies today.

  • EcoCash integrates to DSTV for pay TV subscription via mobile money

    If you thought being able to pay for your DStv at a supermarket till point was convenient (it was, we tried it), this is just going to be awesome. It’s one development we know most middle income families have been waiting for.

  • Of banks, EcoCash, mobile money agents, platforms and great customer care

    Recently I had to change banks because the one I was banking with is apparently going under. And Their customer care service is at its worst but that’s not the issue; I was essentially I was told by the executives at the top was that they couldn’t let me withdraw my money (we’re talking small…

  • Nokia and Windows Phone’s demise

    I still remember when my aunt handed me my first cellphone at the beginning of 2006: A Nokia 1100 with an Econet 099 SIM. Back then if you did not want to go wrong you bought a Nokia phone: they were cheap, reliable, user friendly and the accessories were everywhere.

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