Posted inLocal News
Posted inMiscellaneous
Econet to launch Econet Energy
We just received an invitation from Econet to attend the launch of a new venture called Econet Energy. The launch is today in Harare. The Econet Wireless Zimbabwe CEO, Douglas Mboweni, will make a presentation at the launch. Here’s an excerpt of the invite:
Posted inBroadband
Spiritage owned Valley Technologies to launch voice and data network in Zimbabwe
We've been trying to get information about the company called Spiritage for some weeks now. What caught our attention (and that of many of you asking us about Spiritage) were the Spiritage ICT job vacancies in the press. The company is clearly on a massive recruitment drive. Fortunately, a few days ago, some information started trickling in.
Posted inConnectivity
Econet restores hacked website, secures it with test software
Econet has switched on its Econet Broadband website www.econetbroadband .co.zw, after more than a month of downtime following a hacking incident in December last year. The site is noticeably still using the popular open source content management system Joomla.
Posted inBroadband
Zim’s Internet slows down as PowerTel & Econet fibre cables experience outage
PowerTel and Econet, Zimbabwe’s main suppliers of international internet bandwidth both experienced some downtime on their fibre cables yesterday.
Posted inConnectivity
RubieM to invest US 30 million in SIM & modem manufacturing plant
Dr. Dennis Magaya, the founder and managing director of telecommunications and IT service company, RubieM Technologies, has revealed to a Zimbabwean weekly newspaper that his company has plans to invest US $30 million into the establishment of a telecommunications SIM & mobile broadband modem manufacturing plant.
Posted inConnectivity
Google’s message to Africa: create local content
"Many people believe Google creates or writes the information that you see on the Internet. We don't; we just find and index it. Its actually created by people like you" - This is statement from a post made on the Google Africa blog by Bridgette Sexton, Googles's Program Manager, Developer & Tech Outreach, Africa.
Posted inBroadband
Aquiva Wireless now offering WiMax, Fibre and VSAT connectivity, to launch VoIP
We were at Aquiva Wireless in Harare the other day, talking to the founding team about developments at the Internet Access Provider. There are some interesting developments alright; it's Mobile WiMax offerings, fibre, VSAT and some VoIP services to launch in a few months.
Posted inConnectivity
Econet launches contract mobile phone plans
Today, Econet launched a new contract (post-paid) package for mobile subscribers where, if a customer has a minimum salary of US $250, they can get a free mobile phone on contract. We contacted Econet for details of new mobile plan and got some interesting facts you'll want consider if you're thinking of getting yourself a contract 'free' mobile phone.
Posted inConnectivity
Why we moved Techzim hosting out of Zimbabwe
About 4 weeks ago, we moved Techzim from our local web host to South Africa. The moving process wasn't painless. It lasted some 4 days and we faced a lot of non-technical hitches that come with moving a .co.zw domain from Zimbabwe.
Posted inConnectivity
POTRAZ to commence telecommunications project in under-served rural Zimbabwe
At the end of last week, Zimbabwe's telecommunications regulatory authority, POTRAZ, issued an invitation to tender in local the press for the design and installation of Passive Telecommunication (mainly towers) infrastructure in some rural areas of the country.
Posted inConnectivity
World Bank’s Apps for Development Challenge voting begins
In October 2010 the World Bank launched a competition for software developers to create tools and applications using the World Banks open data. Developers were challenge to create tools and applications that either raises the awareness of at least one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Posted inConnectivity
More than a month later, hacked Econet site is still down
On the evening of 17 December 2010, hackers defaced the Econet Broadband website (www.econetbroadband.co.zw) with some nasty message about Econet not caring about its customers. Econet took the website down some several hours later, along with the main Econet website www.econet.co.zw.
Posted inMobile Money
NetOne’s free airtime promotion extended to lower denominations
In December 2010 NetOne introduced a promotion where prepaid subscribers buying a US $15 airtime recharge would get 107 free minutes. This was all grand and fine except that it's really just a few prepaid subscribers who can afford buying a $15 recharge at once.
Posted inConnectivity
POTRAZ issues mobile phone line registration reminder
With just a month left to the 28th of February approaches, the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) has issued another reminder (a warning really) to mobile subscribers to register their mobile phone lines or risk disconnection when the deadline expires.
Posted inConnectivity
The Apple iPad officially launched in South Africa
2010’s game changing tablet, Apple’s iPad, officially launched in South Africa today. As expected, this didn’t generate the usual excitement Apple products attract at launch. It’s really for the simple reason that Apple launched the same gadget in the US almost 10 months ago and is readying the launch of the second iPad generation.
Posted inConnectivity
ICT solutions firm launches internet shopping site called Zimazon
Have you ever wanted to buy a new gadget and had to resort to travelling to South Africa for it, because locally it’s either just unavailable or has an obscene price tag?
Posted inBroadband Connectivity How To
How to not quickly use up your mobile broadband bundles
We list below, a few bandwidth saving tips. We know some readers have even more tips. If you’re such a reader, please add in your tips in the comments. We’re going to assume you use a Windows machine here because that’s what most people use, and also because if you’re on a Linux box, chances are you‘re a savvy enough and don’t need us lecturing you on this.
Posted inMiscellaneous
Politics and technology: the goings on at Telecel
Normally we like to keep clear of non-technology issues. It allows to focus and write about the things we know best. People at Telecel (or just people with interests in Telecel) however keep spending generous amounts of time generating news on the other side of the line. And it clearly affects the technology side of things at Telecel.
Posted inConnectivity
The inside of an Econet Mail inbox and our take on it
So, finally after a back and forth with support@econetmail.com I finally logged into the new Econet mail service today. For those of you who haven’t received logins yet, (or who don’t use Econet lines) we’ve included some screenshots below.
Posted inBroadband
Masawara Telerix aquisition. Which ISP is Telerix?
Many of you saw the Masawara press release on Tuesday, and like us, most of you went into looking for who Telerix is. This is because Telerix is not on the list of official POTRAZ licensed Internet Access Providers. We thought it’d be a typical walk in the park verifying this information with the concerned parties. We were wrong.
