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Econet’s 4500km Optic Fibre National Backbone
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…
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Aquiva Closes US $7.2m Deal With HUAWEI
Today, news came out that Aquiva Wireless has sealed a telecoms deal worth US $7.2m with Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies. The deal itself is for the establishment of 92 bases stations for broadband Internet. This effectively sets Aquiva Wireless on a growth path to compete with Internet Access Providers that have extensive infrastructure…
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POTRAZ Calls ICT Providers To Help Define IAP/ISP Roles
The Post and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) has invited all Internet Access Providers (IAPs) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to a consultative meeting to be held in Harare next week. The purpose of the meeting: to discuss the role of the IAPs and the ISPs. POTRAZ has been trying to regularize the operations…
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How To Make Ultra Cheap Calls In Harare
It’s not much of a secret really. So, no dear tech reader, you didn’t just stumble upon a telecoms hacking article. This is just in case you’ve been in a cave these past few weeks and haven’t been checking the print press. TelOne has been aggressively advertising the availability of more capacity on their Huawei…
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Update on Zimbabwe’s Broken Sites: Still Broken
Last year we posted an article titled “Zimbabwe’s Broken Websites: Telecoms Operators”. The article basically pointed out some glaring omissions and commissions on the websites of some of the biggest telecom companies. Most of these errors can be corrected easily with a little effort and within a few minutes. We promised to do a follow-up…
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Weekly Roundup – 10 April 2010
TelOne, Telkom Talks The Herald on Thursday continued with the TelOne/Telkom story that’s been appearing now and again for a while now. This time TelOne spokesperson Mr Collin Wilbes, just confirmed that negotiations are still ongoing but that he couldn’t give details.
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When Solar Meets Wireless – A Rural Telecommunications Solution – Part 3
Telecom Center (Phone & Internet Center) Think of a telecom center as a setup with phone, e-mail and internet services. This model is pretty common in urban setups. And this model could be used for remote centers and even some urban centers whose electricity supply is more often off than on. As such the telecom…
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Exclusive Interview with Telecontract CEO, Shadreck Nkala Over ZOL Disconnections
Two days ago we posted an exclusive interview we had with the ZOL CEO David Behr over the broadband disconnections we posted here on Monday. David Behr revealed some interesting aspects to the story. Later the same day, we had another exclusive with the other side, Telco CEO Shadreck Nkala. Below is the transcription of…
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When Solar Meets Wireless – A Rural Telecommunications Solution
Recently the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) made an announcement that it had committed US$24 million from the Universal Services Fund (USF) for implementing eight projects in the rural areas. No specifics as to which telecoms operators had been tasked to carry out the rural network outreach programs. Also no specific areas…
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Weekly Roundup – 5 March 2010
Econet held a breakfast meeting today to give an update to stakeholders on the network upgrade project that has been taking place since last year. We’ll give you an update of the discussions held once we have something.
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Broken Promises: Broadlands Networks And Blades of Uncovered Grass
On November 30 2009, we posted an article titled “Ambitious New Telecoms Operator, Broadlands Networks”. In the article, we expressed our reservations on some (now) clearly overambitious statements made by Broadlands Networks CEO, Chemist Siziba in a local weekly paper. Then, Broadlands promised that there’d be “…no blade of grass that we will not cover…
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Africom To Launch CDMA2000 Mobile Network
Word has it that Africom is in the advanced stages of implementing a CDMA 2000 mobile network. The new mobile network will ride on its already established metro fibre networks in Harare and Bulawayo. According to our source, Africom is taking advantage of the anything-goes class A operator license they hold to spread into the…
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Chamisa For Re-issuing TeleAccess With A Fixed Line License
Zimbabwe Minister of ICT, Nelson Chamisa would like to see the pressure on TelOne to meet fixed line subscriptions demands eased. How? By re-issuing TeleAccess (remember the guys that sat on a license for 2 years until it was taken back) with an operator’s license. According to the Herald, Chamisa will be meeting Attorney General…
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“MTN set to acquire…” Rumours All Over Again. We Hope It’s A Solid Deal This Time.
The rumours about MTN’s interest in acquiring a stake in one of Zimbabwe’s mobile operators have resurfaced, only this time it’s the government owned NetOne up for grabs. So yes, we’re gleefully wagging our tails yet again, hoping this is not just another Telecel story. MTN was last year reported to be courting Telecel in…
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Ambitious New Telecoms Operator, Broadlands Networks
Yesterday’s Standard newspaper carried an article on the new telecoms operator, Broadlands, with the title: “New Operator to End TelOne Dominance”. It’s not clear from the article if Broadlands Networks is after a slice of TelOne’s market share in fixed telecommunication services, International bandwidth wholesaling or mobile CMDA services.
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Zimbabwe’s Broken Websites: Telecoms Operators
This article is the first in a series of “Zimbabwe’s Broken Websites” articles. Links to future articles will be inserted at the bottom of the post. Last week, we posted […]
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Zimbabwe’s Fibre-Optic Internet Backbone Projects
I’ve been curious to find out what high speed Internet backbone projects are underway in Zimbabwe. Reading through the Zimbabwe investment prospectus launched by the Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA) a […]
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TEAMS Undersea Cable Ready For Commercial Use
The East African Marine System (TEAMS) cable will be launched this week. TEAMS is a submarine fibre-optic cable systems linking Kenya to the world through the United Arab Emirates. The […]
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Ecoweb To Start Offering VSAT Services
I’m told in less than 24 hours Ecoweb will announce their new VSAT satellite Internet services. No Information yet on pricing but that shouldn’t be hard to get once they […]
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2009 ICT Africa: Day 2
Tomorrow we have a speech/presentation by the Minister of ICT, Nelson Chamisa and the ministry’s permanent secretary. Hopefully I can post a video or audio of it here. Will also […]