Posted inConnectivity

Playing music and movies on Ubuntu Linux

The first thing anyone ever notices after installing Ubuntu is that they cannot play mp3s, .avi/.vob/.mpeg/ or any of their videos unless you are one of those freaks that happened to have .ogg media files in your music collection. With this discovery comes shock, anger and finally frustration.
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Posted inConnectivity

Local websites need to shape up

In a bid to improve the general quality of local web products, we have posted articles here before about 'broken websites', especially those by ICT service providers. The local web development sector seems to be suffering from a very devastating plague (that is strangely limited to it), this in turn is not doing any justice whatsoever to Zimbabwean companies. We have carried out an emergency diagnosis and discovered the following symptoms:
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Posted inConnectivity

Low cost tablets: the Cruz Reader case

We have written about some tablets here on Techzim. Overpriced low spec’d and low quality ones like the $500 Nhava Maestro tablet, and some high spec’d ones like the WeTab and the Galaxy Tab that we found a bit too steep for this market. When we wrote about the WeTab some weeks ago, a generous reader, Barry Launder, wrote to say tablets like it are just too expensive for this market, and that he could prove it. True to his word, he brought us a US $200 (calculated retail price in Zim) Velocity Micro Cruz Reader tablet to sample and see for ourselves.
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Posted inConnectivity

Why Econet and Trustco Mobile fell out

Today, the reasons behind the Econet and Trustco fallout have started to come out. Econet chairman Tawanda Nyambirai says Econet approached Trustco with complaints of breach of the contract between the two companies. Trustco apparently then threatened to terminate the agreement believing it could use its technical leverage to have its way.
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Posted inMiscellaneous

G-Fuel set to revolutionise local energy sector

Zimbabwe’s erratic energy supplies are a stumbling block for the proliferation of ICT to propel the economy. The country is dependent on its neighbours for fuel supplies and owes mammoth debts to regional electricity producers. It has also not kept up with rest of the world’s quest to find sustainable energy sources. Fossil fuels are key culprits of global warming and finite in the sense that they are running out.
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Posted inConnectivity

Africom rolls out voice, more choice and very low price

As you probably know already, Africom started an ad campagin for the launch of mobile telephony and some new data services last week. The full message of the availability of mobile telephony and the additional data services was made earlier this week. This morning, Africom sent us the tariffs for the new services.
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Posted inStartups

The need for a self-regulating mobile VAS providers body

There’s a growing appetite for mobile value added services (VAS) in the market. This is true for mobile network operators, developers and the mobile subscribers. Developers and entrepreneurs are seeing the opportunities that Zimbabwe’s (and that of African countries in the region) rising mobile penetration avails. Subscribers too are starting to use mobile phones in ways they did not before. The gadget has evolved into much more than just a device to make voice calls and send text messages. There’s internet, music, TV, file transfer, games, and most recently money transfer.
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Posted inConnectivity

Trustco abruptly terminates Ecolife agreement with Econet

Trustco Group Holdings, the Namibian technology partner behind Econet and FML’s Ecolife life insurance product has terminated the agreement for the provision of the system. This has left Econet unable to add more subscribers to the service while they make a move to a new system.
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Posted inConnectivity

Get Ready: Zimbabwe will be a competitive BPO hub

In an increasingly globalised world, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) has taken developing countries by storm. By consistently underpricing developed markets, thousands of jobs and opportunities are being created at breakneck speeds everyday. This article seeks to provide a bird’s eye view of the sector with regards to Zimbabwe’s shot at becoming a competitive hub on the continent and within the greater Southern Hemisphere. We’re not quite sure when exactly the BPO boom began, we are more than certain however of the fact that it’s a very lucrative sector to enter for entrepreneurs and this nation.
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Posted inBroadband

Broadlands narrowing in on 5G?

Going over reports from the ICT global conference held in Harare last week, we came across something that made us stop. It’s a report published by “The Zimbabwean” that basically says Broadlands Networks is preparing to launch a 5G network. Here’s an extract from the report:
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Posted inBroadband Connectivity

Some 1.8 million Econet subscribers use mobile broadband

At the “Thinking Global” ICT conference held in Harare two days ago, Econet disclosed the number of subscribers using mobile broadband internet services on its network. That number is a staggering 1.8 million. Staggering because that’s more than 30% of the total Econet subscribers (5,500,000).
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Posted inBroadband

Africom readies launch of new services, likely voice & more broadband

Africom, one of Zimbabwe’s largest Internet Access Providers, has started what appears to be an advertising campaign for the launch of some new services. In the print press today, a tech company, which definitely is Africom (we’ve confirmed) has a teaser advert for some data and voice services.
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Posted inBroadband

How mobile broadband changed everything

Mobile broadband has had a huge positive impact on the connectivity landscape in Zimbabwe. There’s more choice now, more competition, and so many positive outcomes from that. It’s a watershed moment in the country’s connectivity history. Of course, right now the benefits are still clouded by the ridiculous mobile broadband pricing by some operators, but looking back to this moment, when enough competition has taken care of the pricing, it will all be clear just how much of a jump this is.
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Posted inBroadband

Gigatel launches new VSAT hub in Zimbabwe

Gigatel, the company we wrote about in September last year when it launched VoIP services, has launched a new V-SAT hub in Zimbabwe. The new hub is a Shiron product and operates on C-Band frequencies. It was supplied and engineered by Gilat Satcom, a global satellite communications provider. The announcement was made through a press release on the Gilat website.
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Posted inConnectivity

Samsung’s first official store in Zimbabwe

Joina City has freshened up Harare’s shopping scene; it’s good to note that top notch brands like Samsung have landed to serve the local market. Samsung’s aggressive foray into Africa is well documented as it is charging across the continent to address markets that other prominent brands are foolishly ignoring. Football fanatics (albeit Chelsea F.C fans) should vividly remember the brand’s ads that show up before particular matches, featuring three African master- players. Rather than focusing on the obvious popularity of football as a marketing vehicle, such ads show a perceived respect for African consumers by the brand. It’s only few tech brands that have designed ads specifically for the African market on a continental scale…
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