• The Winners of Zimbabwe’s ICT 2010 Achievers Awards

    Some 3 weeks ago, we posted that nominations were underway for the inaugural Zimbabwe ICT Achievers Awards. The awards ceremony was held last night at a hotel in Harare. This year’s ICT achievers were announced and recognized for their shining contribution to the country’s ICT sector.

  • The Month Of Free Mobile Broadband In Zimbabwe

    Some two weeks ago, we posted that Africom is still giving away free internet despite the expiration of the gratis internet promotion. Africom subscribers are still getting fast internet for nothing as we write this, and it’s emerging they’re not the only ones enjoying free stuff this month. Some Econet subscribers are too.

  • Some Details On Telco’s Recently Launched VoIP Services

    Like most of you in Zimbabwe, we’ve seen the adverts and the articles in the print press about Telco’s launch of the first public VoIP network. We wanted to find out more, for you our dear readers so we contacted Telco and got some details.

  • MXit, A Mobile Social Network For Africa

    I’ll confess that I only came to know about MXit just a few weeks ago. I should have known it earlier, like a few years back maybe. In this age of Facebook, the influence MXit has on social interaction in South Africa is nothing short of a phenomenon.

  • The Winners Of The 2010 AfricaCom Awards

    If you have been following Africa tech news lately, you’re probably aware that the annual AfricaCom Awards ceremony was held yesterday in South Africa. For those of you reading about AfricaCom the first time right now, AfricaCom Awards are like the Grammys of Africa’s telecoms industry and this is the third year running.

  • Africom Suspends Adding More Customers Until System Is ‘Integrated’

    Last week, we wrote that Africom was giving away free bandwidth to subscribers. Free, not because Africom loves giving away internet gratis, but some “outstanding integration aspects” sort of forced them into this not so desirable situation.

  • Africom Still ‘Giving Away’ Free Mobile Internet

    If you made a decision to buy Africom’s broadband service during the one month free trial, or soon after the paid services launched, you’re probably patting yourself on the back for making one of the wisest connectivity decisions you’ve made this year.

  • Telecel Pushes Mobile Internet Launch To Next Year

    Last week left a lot of mobile users asking questions about Telecel’s data services. Econet’s pricey mobile broadband and Africom’s (and PowerTel’s) lack of coverage outside Harare has increased the calls for an alternative. And many believe Telecel has the much needed international backing from its Egypt based parent company, Telecel Globe, to provide an…

  • No Real Broadband Yet In Zimbabwe

    As the editor of an online magazine that is updated several times a day, the Internet is a critical tool for my team and I. Also, as a member of a web development team doing critical updates and uploads for several clients the Internet is indispensable. So it is totally frustrating the amount of down…

  • Beyond A Gig, Africom’s Mobile Broadband Costs $100 Per Gig

    Africom has received a lot of praise since it launched its mobile broadband service a little more than a month ago. Most users of the new service love it. Some subscribers even credit Africom with bringing the first true mobile broadband experience to Zimbabwe.

  • Africom Launches Paid Mobile Broadband Services

    Today Africom officially unveiled its paid mobile broadband services through adverts in the press and an email sent today to subscribers using the services for the one month free bandwidth promotion. The email basically tells subscribers to pay by 23 October or get disconnected.

  • Africom Mobile Broadband Services Prices

    It is common knowledge now that Zimbabweans are going to be getting better quality mobile Internet within the next 2 weeks. Whether it’s going to be affordable or not is of course another matter altogether and a discussion for when the official tariff schedules come out.

  • Africom Delays Launch Of Paid Mobile Internet Services

    When Africom launched mobile internet services about a month ago, it was with a one month free bandwidth promotion for all customers. The promotion was due to expire on 10 October, when Africom said it would unveil the tariff schedule for the new services. 10 October came and passed and it’s emerging Africom is not…

  • PowerTel Opens Up 3G To More Subscribers As Mobile Broadband Competition Heats Up

    We’ve just learnt that PowerTel, the state owned Internet Access Provider, has opened up its 3G service PowerConnect, to more subscribers. Powertel launched the mobile Internet service in 2007 but […]

  • Ecoweb Quietly Suspends Selling Mobile WiMax

    Many people wanting to buy the Ecoweb Mobile WiMax service this week were met with an unpleasant surprise: Ecoweb customer service agents are telling prospective customers that the service is no longer available for new customers.

  • Africom Launches Mobile Broadband, Gives Free Bandwidth for a Month

    As promised last week at the launch of the new red Africom, Africom has launched their mobile broadband service this week. The mobile broadband service is available in Harare only at the moment

  • The New Red Africom, Mobile Broadband and Voice Services

    Earlier today, Africom officially launched its new branding at a function held at the Meikles Hotel in Harare. The central theme of the new Africom is connectivity, converged connectivity. We mentioned a few days ago that this was going to happen.

  • Telecel Makes Per Second Billing Optional for Prepaid Subscribers

    Telecel, the second largest mobile operator (by subscribers numbers) launched ‘Per Second’ billing on its network on 1 September. We started seeing adverts for the new service this week and noticed something that made us sto

  • ZELLCO Introduces VoIP Services

    In an email yesterday, ZELLCO a mobile virtual network operator invited subscribers to register for public VoIP services. According to ZELLCO, the service is being offered by a local network called Gigatel.

  • 12 Reasons Your Zimbabwe Business Needs A Website

    The internet is exploding in Zimbabwe, and already businesses are seeing the benefits of being online – Isn’t time you joined in? If you’re wondering what the benefits of a website would be for your Zimbabwe business, here are a few good reasons to go for it!

  • POTRAZ Silent on Telecel’s Registration Methods Validity

    Exactly a month ago, Telecel Zimbabwe announced some very convenient web and phone based mobile line registration methods. We commended Telecel for the easy registration method. We were also quick to say this probably went against…

  • Telecel Says You Don’t Need Proof of Residence or ID Document for SIM Registration

    We also expressed concern that POTRAZ might not accept the registrations as valid because the general view is that proof of residence and some form of identity document is required to register. We contacted Telecel to get clarification on this concern.

  • Telecel Introduces Web and Mobile SIM Registration Facilities

    We just received a press release from Telecel announcing that the mobile company has introduced online and mobile registration to comply with the POTRAZ SIM card registration directive issued months ago.

  • SEACOM’s Broken Undersea Fibre Won’t Be Fixed Until 22 July

    According to an update on the SEACOM official blog, its broken undersea fibre cable between Mumbai and Mombasa will take until the July 22 to fix. The cable went down on 5 July and affected all SEACOM internet Traffic to India and Europe.

  • Ecoweb Embraces Social Media With New Website

    Early this week, Ecoweb replaced their old (and kind of stale) website with a fresh, bright and actually nice looking one. It was long overdue and Ecoweb’s parent company, Econet, should consider doing something about theirs too. Besides the fresh look, what is really interesting about the new Ecoweb website is that it brings with…

  • Telecel Currently Testing 3G, to Launch by September

    After a couple of questions here on the blog about when Telecel will introduce 3G, we decided to reach out to Telecel last week to get an update straight from the horse’s mouth.

  • POTRAZ Tells Mobile Phone Users to Register Lines or Risk Disconnection

    The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) has issued a notice to all mobile phone users to register their mobile lines by 31 August 2010.

  • Baby Juice Card, The New 50c Airtime From Telecel

    Telecel Zimbabwe, the country second largest mobile operator, just launched a new airtime card dubbed Baby Juice Card. The card costs US 50 cents and includes 50 cents bonus airtime on top of that for calling other Telecel numbers.

  • TelOne Has 15km of Fibre to Mutare And Is “Progressing Well”

    This week, the Herald carried an interesting article on the national fibre backbone project. Carefully titled “Laying of fibre optic cable progresses well” the article disclosed that TelOne, the country’s only fixed telecom operator is digging a fibre cable trench to Mutare.

  • Telecel introduces call-me-back facility, missed call alert, and adds more countries to cheap call destinations

    The country’s second largest mobile operator, Telecel Zimbabwe, has introduced the call-me-back facility. The ‘CallMeBack’ allows a subscriber to send a free text message to another subscriber requesting them to call back. To date, only Econet had the facility enabled on its network.