• Telecel Surpasses A Million Subscribers, To Launch 3G In 2 Months

    Telecel Zimbabwe yesterday celebrated its attainment of more than one million subscribers at a function held to coincide with the end of the Harare International Festival of the Arts, at which it was one of the major sponsors. Telecel took the opportunity to announce that it will launch 3G and GPRS data services on its…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Zimbabwe’s Mobile Penetration Doesn’t Stand At A Mere 20%

    Casually reading an article posted by the Herald a week ago, I was met with a statement that made me stop: …Potential for better returns in the sector is abound considering that the penetration rate by Econet, Telecel and NetOne, largely confined to urban areas, stands at a mere 20 percent in a country with…

  • Telecel Slashes International Call Rates To As Low As A Local Call

    Starting today, if you have a Telecel mobile line and need to call someone in the US, the UK, Australia, the Emirates, China or India (Update: Canada too), you will be charged local call rates. Calls to these destinations can now be made for as little as 25 US cents. Note though that this doesn’t…

  • 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…

  • “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…

  • Year 2009 In Review

    2009 came with a shift in ICT policy direction by the government. Customs duty on ICT equipment for example was suspended and currently ICT hardware suppliers only need to pay 15% VAT on imported equipment. Most positive change has generally been attributed to the energetic Minister of ICT, Nelson Chamisa.

  • Net*One Goes Green With Solar Powered Base Stations

    It’s quite interesting to read news that Zimbabwe’s second largest mobile operator (by number of subscribers) is now using solar energy to power its base stations. Net*One boasts the widest network coverge in Zimbabwe and keeping its large inventory of base stations powered has probably been a challenge, hence the green solution.

  • 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.

  • 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 […]

  • No Zimbabwean Company On AfricaCom Awards Shortlist

    The 2nd Annual AfricaCom Awards are going to be held on the 11th of November 2009 in Cape Town South Africa. The awards recognize and award excellence in the African […]

  • Econet Enlists ZTE and Ericsson In $200m Deal To Expand Network

    Econet is set to increase its subscriber base from the current 3 million to about 5 million following agreements worth over $170 million with the Swedish Ericsson and ZTE of […]

  • Telecel Launching 3G Shortly

    A week ago we bemoaned the fact that with both NetOne and Telecel not on 3G, Econet subscribers wouldn’t enjoy video calling to friends on these networks. Well, not anymore. […]