• Review: The Econet 3G mobile Wi-Fi device

    Close to two weeks ago, we received a test unit of the Econet Huawei mobile Wi-Fi device for review. Being a small operation ourselves, we decided to start using it as our primary office connection since then so that we speak about the reliability, stability, speed and other things from a point of actually having…

  • The future of Ecocash and e-money in Zimbabwe

    Sometime in the midst of September 1958 the Bank of America began its Visa card program by mailing 60,000 unsolicited credit cards over all the country. This resulted in the first most successful implementation of a public general credit card and to this day Visa has the largest market share in the credit card industry

  • It’s all about the PR, Buddie!

    Last night, I was taken aback by the way that Econet Wireless was handling, or rather not handling, its very serious service delivery crisis. Since Saturday evening, subscribers have been expressing frustration and anger at the strange and unexplained disappearance of their airtime. From the people I have spoken to, people who had topped up…

  • Zimbabwe’s internet crawls as undersea fibre outage enters 4th day

    Zimbabwean internet providers relying on the onward fibre connectivity of SEACOM and EASSy, two of Africa’s major undersea cables, are facing major problems delivering internet services to customers as the the two cables have been down for close to 4 days

  • Zimbabwe raises telecoms licence fees, migrates to converged licencing

    The Herald reports today that the Government of Zimbabwe has raised the operating license fees for mobile network and fixed telephone operators from the current US $100 million to $180 million. The change comes as Econet Wireless and Telecel Zimbabwe prepare to renew their operating licenses in June this year.

  • Zimbabwe’s tele-density reaches 100%, mobile penetration now 97%

    Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ), has released the December 2012 (4th quarter) mobile phone and fixed telephone subscribers statistics. According to statistics that we received from the regulator, Zimbabwe’s mobile penetration is now 97%, up from 85% in June 2012.

  • EcoCash vs Banks: Econet is trying to confuse everyone, says FBC’s Mushayavanhu

    As you may know, Econet came out yesterday to publicly accuse CABS, ZimSwitch and Kevin Terry of using the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe to fight Econet’s mobile money product EcoCash. The CABS MD, according to campaigning against EcoCash so he can push his own mobile money/banking product, Textacash. Textacash you will remember is basically an…

  • Zim mobile operators directed to reduce mobile money transaction fees

    The constant complaint with mobile money services locally (EcoCash really) is that it’s expensive to use. Since launch. They reviewed the transaction fees downwards once, a few weeks after launch, but EcoCash remained the most expensive mobile money transfer service in Zimbabwe. So yes, we mourned a lot about it every time we got a…

  • Social media lessons from Zimbabwe’s mobile operators (Updated)

    A lot can change in a year – especially in Zimbabwe. In 2011 very few of Zimbabwe’s established brands seemed to have a presence on Facebook (Twitter “didn’t exist” yet). Today’s marketing landscape has significantly changed as a number of savvy brands finally understand how and why social media matters to their marketing mix.

  • Startup talk: the value of a brand

    Although it might not be apparent at first, one of the most common reasons why startups fail is because of the inability by the founders to create a recognisable, respected and indispensable brand-a cult brand. A brand is a “name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as…

  • CABS & mobile money; An interview with managing director, Kevin Terry

    As alluded to earlier today, we had the opportunity recently to talk to CABS Managing Director Kevin Terry, about their mobile banking service, Textacash. We discussed how they introduced the new mobile phone (and card) based banking product in a radically changed financial sector. We also how they are reaching the unbanked and briefly touched…

  • Why Zimbabwean websites are increasingly getting hacked (list of hacked sites)

    In recent months, each time we’ve posted an article about a high profile website being hacked – such as the story about Fingaz today – what follows is a number of tweets, emails and phone calls with readers basically ask: What’s going on? Why has the hacking increased so much? Why are Zim websites being…

  • Mobile Money: Zim banks moan about unfair competition from mobile operators

    A report today by financial news and analysis service FinX says the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe have proposed that mobile money services be included in new banking reforms for the country. This, the bankers say, would create a level playing field in an sector facing significant disruption from mobile phone operators.

  • A Zimbabwean geek’s letter to Santa

    Me and Santa have been good pals since the PTC days when life was much simpler. For all my troubles the only choices I had to make were between Surface Mail, Air Mail, Telegraph. Calling my infamous and terrible aunts was a small matter of giving their numbers six weeks in advance to, you guessed…

  • TelOne appoints Chipo Mtasa new Managing Director

    Information reaching us suggests that TelOne is about to announce the appointment of Chipo Mtasa as new managing director of the company. Mtasa will take over from acting MD, Hampton Mhlanga who, according to our sources, will resume his substantive post of Technical Director of the fixed line operator and internet provider.

  • 2012 roundup: The year in review

    The year kicked off with one of the largest ISPs in Zimbabwe ZOL, announcing that it had been acquired by Liquid Telecom, a move which resulted in the Econet Wireless Group cementing its position as Zimbabwe’s largest telecoms firm.

  • The iPhone 5, a Zimbabwean review

    The latest iteration of Apple’s highly successful Smartphone was announced on the 12th of September to mixed reviews. For the most part, a public that has grown accustomed to having their collective mind blown by revolutionary products from Apple was underwhelmed by what was essentially an evolutionary, rather than revolutionary upgrade.

  • Econet sort of reduces mobile broadband tariffs

    So, what do you do if you’re a mobile operator and your customers have been clamouring all year about your mobile broadband tariffs being too high? Well, if you’re Econet you go ahead and reduce the price but you only make that reduction apply between 12 midnight and 5 AM. You also go ahead and…

  • Holiday broadband deals: PowerTel reduces tariffs by 30%

    The Holiday season comes with connectivity goodness! Good to the tune of 30% off the usual $50 in PowerTel’s case. The internet provider announced a few days ago that it’s slashing mobile broadband data tariffs to $40 until 31 January 2013. The price of the modems has also been reduced from $45 to $30 for…

  • More problems for regular SMS: biNu credits now available locally

    SMS as we know it today, or rather as mobile network operators abuse it today, needs to go away. It’s so damn expensive. US 9 cents just to send 140 characters is undoubtedly the most costly means to communicate electronically today. And thankfully it is going away.

  • Zimbabwe’s 2012 mobile broadband subscribers: 2.2 mil

    The draft policy framework document presented last week by the Ministry of ICT yesterday had some interesting stats on the state of the ICT industry in Zimbabwe. The statistics cover mobile penetration, fixed telephony, mobile broadband penetration and the amount of incoming and outgoing international bandwidth. We thought to share some of that data here,…

  • PowerTel introduces weekly & biweekly mobile broadband packages

    In what is certainly a first in the market locally, PowerTel is introducing weekly and biweekly uncapped internet packages. The move according to PowerTel marketing manager Willard Nyagwande, has been […]

  • Utande revises internet tariffs downwards, introduces 1GB bundle

    Utande, a local internet service provider, has revised its WiMAX broadband service tariffs downwards. Effective today, 1 November, the price of its 2GB data bundle has been reduced by 14% […]

  • Econet slashing some Buddie tariffs by as much as 80%

    You’ve probably heard that Econet is trialing some ultra-low cost voice rates for its Buddie customers. It’s true. A new – but not yet launched officially – Econet voice promo […]

  • So, POTRAZ has used the USF to install just 11 sites so far

    A report in today’s Herald says the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) has so far used the Universal Service Fund to install just 11 base station sites […]

  • Mobile money for public transport: EcoCash in the Kombi

    Today, a friend pointed us to a development on the EcoCash for business front. Specifically, in the public transport sector. Apparently Econet is already trialing its mobile payment service in […]

  • e-Tech Africa Expo in pictures (Day 1)

    Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the ongoing e-Tech Africa Expo 2012. It was a bit quiet in terms of traffic so we decided to not go today but we’ll […]

  • EcoCash mobile money registered users now over 1.7 million

    As Econet celebrates the first anniversary of its mobile money product, EcoCash, the company has announced that the service has grown to over 1.7 million registered users. In a press […]

  • Econet joins lotto-like value added service race

    Just under two weeks after Telecel announced its question & answer vas promo, Econet has followed with its own. The Econet announcement was made on the company’s Facebook page on Monday […]

  • Zimbabwe’s June ‘12 mobile & fixed subscriber stats. 90% tele-density

    Zimbabwe’s telecommunications regulator, POTRAZ, has released the June 2012 (2nd quarter) mobile phone and fixed line subscribers statistics. The stats, which were published in the state owned daily, The Herald, […]

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