To say we didn’t wait with abated breath for one year would be a lie. We waited. We naively thought Econet would use its muscle and deep pockets to roll out the most affordable mobile broadband service.
We’re just from the launch of Zimbabwe’s first nationwide broadband service by Econet at an elegant dinner at the Crowne Plaza in Harare this evening. The launch was attended was attended by cabinet ministers, ambassadors and POTRAZ officials.
We just received an update on our Twitter feed from an alert Tafmak with details on the new Econet pricing for the data services to be announced 2 days from now.
Early this month, Econet promised to launch a comprehensive mobile Internet service at the end of the month. Talking to Econet staff lately, Techzim got the impression that Econet is about to launch something so impressive it’ll blow our minds off. And as one guy put it, “it’s going to be a game changer”.
We just received information that Econet and Afre Corporation (formerly First Mutual Life Assurance Limited) will be announcing a new Life Insurance product to the press tomorrow. The new product is called EcoLife
U.S. Ambassador Charles A. Ray and Fred Mutanda, Chairman of the American Business Association of Zimbabwe (ABAZ), today announced the winners of the first annual “Investing in Zimbabwe’s Future” Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Awards: Econet and African Sun Zimbabwe Limited.
No sooner had I hit ‘publish’ on an article about the suspension of Ecoweb Mobile WiMax sales, than a new SMS notification buzzed on my phone. It’s a broadcast message from Econet (You get to do this when you own a huge mobile network) and it confirms what we’ve been writing these past few weeks.…
We’ve just been informed through a release by Econet that the largest mobile operator in the country is slashing International call rates by 50%. A huge drop and one effectively making Econet the cheapest network for international calls
We just received a press release from Econet with information that Econet Wireless South Africa has sold more than 500,000 SIM packs the past 12 months. Econet is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) in South Africa where it piggybacks on Cell C infrastructure.
We just received an email with the information that Econet will be changing its prefix number from 091 to 077. Here’s the full text of the email:
We just learnt from a contact that Econet will be launching new broadband services shortly. The new services will be branded ‘Econet Broadband’. The services will be a combination of the 4G mobile WiMax from Ecoweb (a subsidiary) and the 3G services introduced by Econet last year
Today, Econet, Zimbabwe’s largest mobile operator announced that it has introduced ‘per second’ billing for its subscribers. The move is in compliance with regulatory requirements issued by POTRAZ earlier this year.
In a survey conducted by human resources consultancy firm, Industrial Psychology Consultants (IPC), Econet Wireless has emerged the most admired employer in Zimbabwe. Telecel and NetOne also made it into the top 10 at positions 8 and 9 respectively.
Econet Wireless has sent out thousands of cheques worth close to $10 million in dividend payments to its shareholders for the year ended February 2010, finance director Mr Kris Chirairo has said.
Econet, the largest mobile operator in Zimbabwe, has started selling Android smartphones at its new concept shops in Harare. So far only the Huawei U8220 mobile phone is available. We visited the Livingstone Avenue Econet shop last week and had a feel of the phone.
You’ve probably been wondering what Econet’s been up to lately. Or maybe you heard but wished you could get an inside look into the “90 Base Stations in 90 Days” work. Or maybe like me, you’re just curious to know the kind of work that goes into building a base station.
Econet has started a new promotion to persuade subscribers to register their mobile lines. There have been concerns that mobile operators will not meet the POTRAZ August deadline and already Telecel has asked for a push of the deadline.
Since Econet launched 3G on it’s network last year in August, the services has had more than a few problems. First it was that 3G itself was only limited to the greater Harare.
Starting tomorrow, the Libertie and Prepaid Business Partna packages will be killed off gradually. Subscribers on the two discontinued plans will be automatically migrated to the new unified Buddie plan re-launched in the morning today.
ECONET Wireless has relaunched its premier prepaid package, Buddie, loaded with a new bouquet of value added services, including the country’s first prepaid roaming service.
ECONET Wireless has begun a massive rollout of a chain of new format stores, as part of a wider programme to transform the company’s customer service systems.
Last week, we got our hands on more information regarding the Econet fibre project. The largest telecoms company in Zimbabwe is constructing the largest fibre cable network in Zimbabwe. It’s arguably one of the largest in the Southern Africa region too. It’s a 4,500km optic fibre network linking all Zimbabwe cities and major towns. The…
This week Econet published their financial results for the year to February 2010. The results presentation, available on SlideShare here has a number of highlights but the outstanding one is the US $113 million Profit after Tax results! Total revenue for the period is US $362 million. Basic earnings per share per share were at…
On 28 August 2009, Econet launched 3G services on its network. Then, we criticized Econet for not providing enough information to subscribers about the new service. A little over a month later, Econet quietly suspended the activation of more subscribers to 3G services. No public announcement of the service suspension was made. You’d just visit…
Today, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe opened a new call centre in Graniteside, Harare. The large call center (see pictures below), which has the capacity to handle more than 15,000 customer calls an hour was described by Econet CEO, Mr. Douglas Mboweni as “the biggest and most sophisticated in the country”. Mr. Douglas Mboweni took the opportunity…
Econet Wireless Zimbabwe is officially opening its new call center in Harare tomorrow. Econet has built a new advanced call centre to handle increased traffic from its growing subscriber base now standing at more than 3.2 million. Speaking about the opening, Econet CEO, Mr Douglas Mboweni said that massive growth had increased demand for service…
Strive Masiyiwa, founder of Econet Wireless has given instructions to shut down the Zimbabwean operations of the now global telecoms company. The instructions are for the mobile operator to close down business by the end of day 01 April 2010.
Econet announced today the reduction of its mobile line’s price from US$5 to US$2. The US$2 includes airtime worth a dollar. This follows a similar move by its closest competitor, Telecel Zimbabwe, about 2 months ago. Adverts by Econet in the local press today urge customers to act now as ‘offer’ is only “valid while…
An article about the Econet metro fibre network in The Standard last week, had the following takeaway: IMAGINE Harare, in its dilapidated state, being the most digitalised city in the world. To many, this may sound too far-fetched but for Liquid Telecom, a subsidiary of Econet and Harare Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda it is only a…
Ok. The good news first: Starting this week, Econet has slashed its off-peak calling rates to just 10 cents. Off-peak here refers to 10PM to 6AM everyday. The not so good news:…