Telcoms industry reviews bundle prices

Zim Now Writer

Weighed down by rising operational costs, the telecommunications sector has reviewed its bundle prices, in both in Zimbabwe dollar and United States dollar terms.

This comes as the regulator, the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory of Zimbabwe (Potraz), approved a headline tariff adjustment effective 1 November, 2022.

Potraz had in July approved a 180 percent tariff increase to be effected in three phases of 60 percent in July, September and November in order to offset rising operational costs which had grown by 44,9 percent in the second quarter of 2022, to ZWL$24.6 billion from ZWL$17 billion which had been recorded in the first quarter.

The average ZWL bundle price increase is understood to be about 60 percent across the networks, while the USD price increase is understood to be around 15 percent on average.

The telecoms sector pays for international bandwidth and network equipment in foreign currency and as such, the upgrade of infrastructure and provision of quality service has been compromised in the last three years owing to a number of challenges, which include sub-optimal tariffs, high operational costs, intermittent power outages and vandalism of telco equipment, among other things.

State-owned mobile NetOne increased its tariffs on Sunday while Econet Wireless announced that it would review its tariffs tomorrow.

“Dear valued customer, please be advised that NetOne will be adjusting voice, data and SMS bundles tariffs with effect from the 13th of November 2022,” the company said in a notice to customers.

A public notice from Econet also said: “Dear valued customer, please take note of our new ZWL & USD Voice, SMS & Data bundle prices effective Wednesday 16 November, 2022.”

The third mobile network operator, Telecel, is expected to adjust its tariffs soon.

Potraz Director-General Gift Machengete recently indicated that the capital-intensive telecoms industry requires foreign currency to constantly upgrade 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,” he said in the latest telecommunications sector report.

He added that particular attention needs to be paid to rural areas where broadband coverage of technologies such as LTE is still sparse.

“Operators also need to innovate and explore sustainable revenue generation and cost containment avenues considering the current economic climate,” Machengete also said.

For years, government has always taxed telcom services to finance some of its key obligations with the MNOs, reeling from revenue needs for infrastructure and network upgrades, passing on the cost to the consumers.