The Q3 2017 Telecoms report by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz)
reported an increase in Zimbabwe’s mobile penetration rate from 97% in Q2 to 100.5% in Q3.
Zimbabwe has three main mobile operators. Other mobile
operators are unlikely to enter the market due to spectrum shortages. Subscriber stats
as of last year:
Econet Wireless is the market leader in the telecom and
technology industries in Zimbabwe, boasting over 10 million connected customers
according to this source, and
offering the widest range of voice, data, content, media, as well as mobile
money services.
Millions of Econet customers already use smart phones to
access mobile data services, and when the company - which industry figures say
has the widest 3G and 4G data networks - has been aggressively rolling out
mobile and fixed Wifi hotspots in the major cities and towns. Its customers
will now be expected to use its wide mobile data network and its Wifi hotspots
to access the web self-care services.
Econet
web selfcare, is referred to as the first "truly open network in the
country" by Econet Chief Operating Officer Fayaz King, allow Econet
customers to monitor their airtime and data usage anywhere and at any time.
Mr
King elaborates:
"Customers will have the convenience of
having direct access to their balances, being able to transfer airtime, check
their call history, activate or deactivate content and value-added services,
and be able to change their PUK (Pin Unlock Key) numbers on their own, without
calling for assistance from Econet".
The service will compliment Econet's
recent introduction of AI (Artificial Intelligence)-driven customer support.
The company recently launched a Chatbot called 'Bud-e', which carries out some of its customer services support via Econet's Facebook page, including assisting customers to install Internet and data settings, recover recharge keys from over-scratched recharge cards, reset EcoCash PIN requests, and carry out EcoCash transaction reversals, among other support functions.
The company recently launched a Chatbot called 'Bud-e', which carries out some of its customer services support via Econet's Facebook page, including assisting customers to install Internet and data settings, recover recharge keys from over-scratched recharge cards, reset EcoCash PIN requests, and carry out EcoCash transaction reversals, among other support functions.
Telecel
Zimbabwe is a telecommunications services provider with most of its services in the mobile
cellular network services. The company is owned jointly by the Empowerment
Corporation (40%) and Vimpelcom (60%), one of the largest telecoms companies in
the world.
According
to its website it has more than 1,750,000 active
subscribers. They launched
their first 4G LTE services last year, allowing them to compete with rival
firms Econet Wireless and NetOne, both of which introduced 4G connectivity
several years ago
CEO Angeline Vere commented: ‘As part of the plan we announced in
May (2017), we have started to install LTE equipment in Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru
and Mutare. This phase will be immediately followed by a country-wide
deployment of this 4G technology.’ She added: ‘In addition to the LTE, Telecel
will also be upgrading current sites as well as rolling out new 3G sites across
the country.’
Telecel, which is 60% state-owned, controlled around 14% of Zimbabwe’s 13.2 million mobile users at the end of June 2017, according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database. After several years of subscriber losses, partly due to uncertainty surrounding its ownership and licensing issues, the government is looking to turn the business around ahead of a possible sale.
Telecel, which is 60% state-owned, controlled around 14% of Zimbabwe’s 13.2 million mobile users at the end of June 2017, according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database. After several years of subscriber losses, partly due to uncertainty surrounding its ownership and licensing issues, the government is looking to turn the business around ahead of a possible sale.
Zimbabwe’s second largest operator
by subscribers, state-owned NetOne, has signed a $71
million financing agreement with Chinese equipment vendor Huawei Technologies,
supported by the China Exim Bank. The deal will enable NetOne to expand its
mobile network into more rural areas,
NetOne grew its data market share by 6.5 percent in the
last quarter of 2017, the latest Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory
Authority (Potraz) report
shows. According to the report, the State-owned NetOne is the only mobile
telecommunications company that gained a market share of internet and data
traffic. NetOne leveraged on growing mobile data usage in the country with its
OneFusion offerings that were introduced in May last year. The One-Fusion
initiative took the market by storm, offering on-net and off-net voice calls,
international calls, messages, data, WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter. "Demand
for data and internet service has been consistently increasing," Potraz
said in the report.
However Portraz later directed NetOne to compensate all
subscribers who lost airtime on the Onefusion package over the weekend due to a
faulty billing system.
In the past, subscribers have complained bitterly that
Econet Wireless Zimbabwe was "robbing" them of voice airtime and data
bundles. Nothing was publicly done to Econet, resulting in an exodus by
subscribers to NetOne and Telecel.
NetOne, which has become the second largest mobile phone company with about 5,5 million by subscribers, was fiercely criticised by subscribers on social media platforms for the "disappearing" data bundles and voice airtime over the weekend.
Writing on its Facebook page, NetOne apologised for challenges it was facing, and claimed it was working flat out to address the problem.
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