• Aptics enters market with promise of affordable broadband and VoIP

    About 2 weeks ago a new Internet Access Provider called Aptics started advertising VoIP telephony and ‘4G’ services in the local newspapers. We have tried the Aptics broadband internet before for our primary connection at the office, but then, the company was still providing services primarily through ISPs ZOL and Yo Africa. The company is…

  • Aquiva Wireless to launch VoIP by April

    One of Zimbabwe’s licensed Internet Access Providers (IAP), Aquiva Wireless, will be launching VoIP services by April this year. We got the news from the company this week that they are finalizing interconnection agreements with some of the existing mobile operators and the fixed line operator (TelOne) and will be launching VoIP commercially in the…

  • Review: NetOne mobile broadband internet service

    Towards the end of last year Zimbabwe’s state owned mobile operator, NetOne, launched its mobile broadband service. Over the weekend this writer decided to test the service and see how it performs.

  • Facebook access without the web. Orange follows FMNA, Gemalto

    The one thing clear about telecoms in Africa is that basic phones still rule. There’s another thing too clear to ignore; it is that people on the continent love Facebook. Facebook is so popular, for many Africans Facebook’s the first point of contact with the Internet. Orange has woken up to this fact. The mobile…

  • MATHs startup, Gikko, launches mobile content services with Telecel

    We just received a press release from Gikko, the till roll ads and bulk sms startup that we last wrote about in September last year. The release announces the launch of local mobile content services on the Telecel Zimbabwe network.

  • Telecel goes red for Valentine’s

    It appears Telecel has no intention of stopping it’s rapid release of new Value Added Services, just recently they launched their Emergency Credit[link to article] facility and now they have something for couples to enjoy over Valentine’s. By sending an sms to 33511(charged at 10c) you’ll receive a love quote. Let’s admit it, not all…

  • Techzim Interviews: ZOL CEO David Behr on acquisition by Liquid

    We had the opportunity to speak to ZOL CEO, David Behr on his company’s recent acquisition by the Liquid Telecommunications Group. In the interview he talks about why they sold to Liquid, what this means for ZOL going forward in terms of independence of the ISP and service delivery to customers. Below is a transcript…

  • Estimating the number of Facebook users in Zimbabwe

    There has been a lot of curiosity about Zimbabwe’s Facebook population lately. Unfortunately Facebook doesn’t provide Zimbabwe’s Facebook stats because of, well, you guessed it, we’re a bad people. Or at least the targeted US sanctions say some leaders here are.

  • The ‘dollar for 2’ Telecel SIM cards

    A reader, Tatenda Dzumira, sent us photos recently of Telecel Zimbabwe agents busy on the streets of Bulawayo touting from a loud speaker the availability of “dollar for 2” Telecel SIM cards. The SIM cards are sold from the back of a pickup truck and new subscribers can buy and register for mobile services right…

  • Africom finally kills off the loss leading $18 bundle

    In October 2010, Africom made a bold unprecedented move in the history of the internet in Zimbabwe. Fresh from the launch of its new red brand and mobile broadband services, the company announced the pricing of its data packages; the cost of a 1 gigabyte bundle was US $18. It was crazy. It was fantastic…

  • How much the price of internet connectivity can reduce in one year

    A year ago, US $50 per month unlimited broadband was only offered by one internet provider, the state owned PowerTel. Many would argue doesn’t really ‘need’ to make money. It wasn’t the best internet in town, largely because of congestion issues, but PowerTel afforded many small businesses and middle income earners an opportunity to have…

  • Mobile Penetration in Zimbabwe (2006 – 2011)

    One of the interesting things presented at last week’s JumpStart event, was the rise in mobile penetration in Zimbabwe between 2006 and 2011. The actual significant rise started in 2009 but 2006 shows just how low it was just a little over 5 years ago, 848,000 subscribers.

  • Exclusive: Liquid Telecom acquires Zimbabwean ISP, ZOL

    We just got news that Zimbabwe Online (ZOL) has been acquired by the Liquid Telecommunications Group. ZOL is now officially part of the Liquid Telecom Group. From the information available to us so far, ZOL will remain an independent company in terms of branding and operations.

  • My journey to Wedza. An experience with technology in rural Zimbabwe

    I had a chance to see the “hot” mobile phones in Wedza in all their shapes and sizes. The Chinese made models topped the list perhaps because of their key features – dual sim support, high audio output, multimedia support (ability to play a range of audio file formats, record audio/video clips and snap JPEG…

  • It’s Nhava all over again, only this time the name is Swav

    Good news like this press release travels fast. No sooner had it been published than Zimguardian picked it up and repeated the PR. It’s said if you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it. Eventually a big local daily newspaper, the NewsDay, picked the lie and amplified it yesterday. But in these connected…

  • Our information technology predictions for 2012

    Another exciting year in information technologies lies ahead with a lot of promise for the continued growth of the sector. Below, we provide our thoughts on what we think 2012 holds. It would be great to know what you the reader think in the comments.

  • Zimbabwe’s tele-density rises to 74.7%

    Zimbabwe’s tele-density rose to 74.7% as 2011 came to a close. Mobile phone subscriber statistics we received from the Post and Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) recently show that all mobile phone operators registered an increase in subscribers since the last release of stats in September 2011.

  • Mobile & web commerce in 2012, unlocking the value of connectivity

    At the beginning of 2011 we predicted that Zimbabwe would see internet and mobile commerce services launched in Zimbabwe. As the year came to close, it was certain we were right on target with the prediction: Econet launched EcoCash they extending the use to more than just remittances and airtime; Zimswitch confirmed to us in…

  • Why you should ignore the ‘We have 4G!’ adverts

    In 2010, Ecoweb (and Econet subsidiary) was first to come out with the message that they had launched a 4G internet service. The company had just launched its mobile WiMax platform April 2010; a first in Zimbabwe. Of course consumers had no idea what this 4G thing was. The real benefit a lot of people…

  • The top Zimbabwe tech stories we covered in 2011

    With less than two days left before the close of the year, we thought we’d post a listing of all the top stories we covered this year. This has been our busiest year since.

  • NetOne opens mobile broadband to prepaid subscribers

    Back in October, NetOne announced to its postpaid (some call them contract) subscribers that its mobile broadband tests, which had been running before that date, had come to an end. NetOne invited the post paid subscribers to enable internet browsing on their lines and be charged US $40 for unlimited usage a month. Quite the…

  • Telecel releases official mobile internet pricing. Introduces bundles

    Since the launch of its mobile broadband internet services, Telecel has maintained that the pricing, US 10 cents per megabyte of data, was for pilot testing purposes only. Part of that is of course the fact that they commenced the commercial bit of rolling out their internet without seeking the regulator’s approval and they had…

  • Review: The Huawei Ideos S7 Slim. Great entry level tablet

    There’s only one way to start off this review, and that’s to tell you that if you’ve been wanting to get yourself your first tablet, you might want to sample this one first before you run off to get that $1,000 iPad or $700 Galaxy Tab. And here is why.

  • Details of the 2011 ICT Achievers Awards winners

    We promised to post the details of the winners of this year’s Zimbabwe ICT Achievers awards. Many of our readers have requested this information. So here they are. We got the details from the Zimbabwe Ministry of ICT and we’re posting all the information as is.

  • Zimbabwe ICT Achievers Awards winners announced

    The Zimbabwe ICT Achievers Awards ceremony was held tonight at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Harare. The annual awards are in their second year. Guest of honor at the event tonight was Zimbabwe Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirayi.

  • Altfin and NetOne launch mobile phone based medical aid service

    NewsDay reports today that an Altfin Holdings subsidiary, Altfin Medical Aid Scheme, and state owned mobile operator, NetOne, have launched a new mobile phone based medical aid scheme. The scheme is called MedAccess. NetOne is the technical partner in the project. Subscribers will be able to register for the new service using their NetOne mobile…

  • Of social media badges and moving with the times

    You’ve probably seen it yourself a couple of times; a company (big often) slaps a Facebook badge on its website and print adverts despite the fact that their Facebook page has no activity at all on it. Sometimes the page doesn’t even exist. It’s nothing but a statement to their visitors: We’re moving with the…

  • Stimulating competition in telecoms with Mobile Number Portability

    Dollar for three are the buzzwords for Telecel customers, which refers to Telecel’s popular mega-juice airtime top-up card which costs $1 but offers $3 worth of value, i.e. $1 allowing off-net calls, $1 bonus for on-net calls and a $1 data bundle worth 10MB. Tariff wise, Telecel offers a $0.23 rate across all networks. Compare…

  • Dear Brodacom, please stop with these false claims already

    If you’re in Zimbabwe and checked the newspapers yesterday, you probably saw the Brodacom advert above. The advert claims that before Brodacom came along, setting up fixed broadband in Zimbabwe used to cost US $3,500 and that thanks to Brodacom, that figure has been brought down to US $99.50, the price of Brodacom’s Wi-Fi device…

  • Maybe Africom’s $18 gigabyte bundle really is unsustainable?

    When Africom unveiled its mobile broadband service pricing last year in October it was to the delight of a market frustrated by exorbitantly priced internet (in the case of Econet) or just internet that didn’t work much (hello PowerTel). We commented then that on price Africom’s service was “by far a preferable alternative”. We still…