Local telecoms operator Econet Wireless wants POTRAZ the industry regulator to pay over $132 million in damages for losses suffered due to the reduction in voice tariffs.
Zimbabwe’s digital migration which is meant to ensure that the country adopts international standards for broadcasting and content distribution through digital channels is 34% complete.
Econet subscribers can now access 30 cents, 50 cents and 75 cents of airtime on credit by dialing the *179# USSD code. This expands on the previous offer of 50 cents airtime credit which was also available on the same extension.
Egypt becomes the second country to block the service after India made the move as part of a response to concerns raised around Free Basics’ net neutrality violations. Etisalat Egypt, Facebook, and Egyptian officials haven’t mentioned the reason behind the shutdown in Egypt but there has been a lot of speculation that the country is…
It is anticipated that the company formed by Inspur and the government will manufacture 50,000 computers a year. This agreement is also set to culminate in the development of a National Data Centre; a high-tech park; projects for e-education, e-taxation and e-migration; as well as the development of a high-performance computer system.
Starting in January, remote public health facilities will be accessing telemedicine facilities that include online diagnosis, remote consultation for specific conditions, communication of information such as broadcasting of alerts and updates on potential outbreaks.
It’s not just the Zimbabwean government benefitting from Chinese investment. According to a statement released by Econet Wireless, the company’s parent group Econet Global has secured $500 million from China Development Bank and ZTE.
This is the latest issue regarding unpaid interconnection fees by State-owned telecoms operators to make it into the public domain, and its something that private sector players like Econet have always complained about. Public sector players are presumably treated differently by the regulator in all matters regarding obligations and payments.
2015 was no doubt the toughest year in recent memory barring 2008 when our economy was at the height of its hysterical hyperinflation episode. Indeed some have even gone so far as to claim that 2015 has even been worse than 2008 and in some ways they are right.
However, we are still not at a point where data service costs become an afterthought. Local internet prices are still steep, particularly for the majority of Zimbabweans who use mobile devices to go online. The absence of regulatory intervention hasn’t helped either. All the changes we’ve noticed so far are a reuslt of macro-economic forces…
Econet has been contesting a directive given last year by POTRAZ to all operators to lower their voice tariffs. This adjustment led to the lowering of mobile voice calls from 23 cents a minute to 15 cents a minute at the start of 2015. This adjustment had been determined by the new LRIC pricing model…
Telecoms operators are experiencing a growth in subscriber numbers, but the same subscribers aren’t spending as much. That’s one way of looking at the statistics provided in the latest (Second Quarter of 2015) sector performance report from post and telecoms regulator, POTRAZ.
This is the main reason I don’t quite buy the “fast follower” thinking that the company has said is part of its modus operandi. The internet and the tools it provides freely to anyone, are not so we can follow fast to resell products.
We discuss the future of Telecel in this podcast, along with talks on a real estate listings startup called Propertybook, the Steward bank agent banking partnership with Zimpost and the startup competitions happening locally as Global Entrepreneurship Week comes to a close. One other issue touched on is the Startup Challenge and its absence from…
With all these solutions popping up, Zimpost, the state owned enterprise that owns and manages all local postal services didn’t want to be left behind and has now introduced its own online payments and e-money platform.
The primary device at the heart (pardon the pun) of this unit is the Econet Connected Health Device which is a blood glucose and Blood Pressure monitoring system. The device is used by patients suffering from the long list of conditions that are affected by these metrics.
POTRAZ, the local telecommunications regulator has put out an advert inviting various stakeholders to contribute to a consultative process which is meant to review the current telecoms licensing Framework.
“You have been selected to be part of the pilot tests to purchase ZESA prepaid tokens using TeleCash…”
For the period ending 31 August 2015 TelOne managed a 187.1% increase in profit before tax from the previous year’s $6,2 million to end the 2015 financial year on $17,7 million.
Local stockbrokers, Lynton Edwards have projected a 21.3% drop in revenue for the period ending February 2016 along with a 49% reduction in net profit. According to these measures, Econet’s revenue will stand at $587 million and profit for the full year will come to $35,4 million.
Earlier today, we attended the official launch of the partnership between EcoCash Diaspora and the global money transfer company, MoneyGram. The EcoCash and MoneyGram remittance option works in pretty much the same way as the other integrated remittance services such as WorldRemit, Western Union and Chitoro.
The question though is whether or not this is the right thing to do for a new TelOne that is slowly defining itself as a true corporate competitor in Zimbabwean telecoms. Without help from the government It has started to define itself as a game changing operator with the potential to upset the status quo…
Econet Wireless Zimbabwe has announced a 17.7% drop in revenue and 52% decline in profit in its 2015 Half Year Results.
Does Econet get the internet? Looking at the Tengai experience (it hasn’t been restored more than 2 months later), a strange EcoShopper product, and the long silence on ipidi you get a sense of how much Econet is prepared for business at this level.
According to Angeline Vere, the CEO of Telecel, the operator has been piloting LTE in parts of Zimbabwe and will be activating it in the first part of 2016. However, she pointed out that the service isn’t immediately relevant in Zimbabwe because of a limited smartphone penetration.
Econet has just reported that it has retrenched 100 employees in efforts to streamline operations in an environment where revenues have fallen.
Econet has ramped up the promotion of its LTE service with free data for users that sign up to test it.