John Ndlovu
The prevailing galloping inflation in the country has forced the telecommunications industry to review their tariffs upward.
The tariffs saw increased prices in both the local (ZW$) and United States dollars (US$).
This move comes two weeks after the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory of Zimbabwe (Potraz) endorsed an advertisement of tariffs change effective 1st of November 2022 by Econet Zimbabwe and competitor Net One.
The telecoms sector has faced serious challenges in upgrading infrastructure and provision of quality services in the last trimester due to low tariffs against high spontaneous costs, prevalent power outages and high rate of vandalism of telecommunications equipment.
Netone announce review of tariffs effective last Sunday while it’s giant counterpart Econet Wireless announced that it will review tariffs upward on Wednesday.
Econet’ statement to the public read,
“Dear valued customer please take note of our new ZWL$ and US$ Voice, SMS and Data bundle prices effective Wednesday 16 November.”
Telecel, the country’s third and struggling mobile operator is also expected to follow suit and increase tariffs just like it’s counterparts.
The ZWL$ bundle price is believed to be about 60% on all networks while the US$ price is believed to be about 15%.
The latest tariff increase occurs after POTRAZ Director General Dr. Gift Machengete recently alluded that foreign currency was needed by the capital-intensive telecom’s industry for constant upgrading of network infrastructure.
“Enhanced growth can be achieved through government intervention and innovative public-private partnerships aimed at improving the digital landscape by assuring access, equity and affordability of telecommunication services to all,” said General Dr Machengete in the latest telecommunications sector report.
Econet Wireless customers echoed their discontentment on the company’s Facebook page as one user Thomas Christ Russell said,
“to my surprise honestly you are good at increasing your tariff charges but the network service is always down.”
Zimbabwe Mobile data bundles are considered to be the most expensive in the Southern region of Africa, yet the service is not up to standard compared with neighboring countries.