Zimbabwe’s largest mobile network operator, Econet Wireless, has revised its voice, data and SMS bundle prices upwards by an average 20 percent, in an effort to recover value reportedly eroded due to currency devaluation and other rising costs of key network inputs.
The mobile operator incurred exchange losses of $10,3
billion in the half-year to August 2020 as a result of the exposure in foreign
currency denominated obligations.
“The business continuously reviews its pricing in line with
changes in the operating environment to ensure it remains viable, while
retaining good quality of service and offering affordable products,” Econet
said.
The listed telecommunications company earlier said it was
transforming itself into a digital service provider, and remained “committed to
innovative approaches to deliver these (digital) services and ensure our
customers get the best quality voice, data and SMS-based products”.
Econet last adjusted its voice and data tariffs in
September, but since that time, the price of many goods and services that
constitute critical costs to the business, have sky-rocketed, putting pressure
on the company’s bottom line. In particular, the price of electricity has
doubled (gone up 100 percent) while diesel has gone up by 32 percent since
September. Econet and other telecommunication companies rely on electricity and
diesel-generated power to keep their network services up and running.
According to the latest schedule, Econet has reviewed its
Bundle of Joy voice bundles from $4,04 to $4,25 per two minutes, while a 20
megabyte (MB) daily data bundle now costs $17, up from $13. A monthly 100MB
data bundle has been reviewed upwards from $67 to $84, while the 8GB private
wi-fi bundle has been adjusted from $960 to $1 500.
At the same time, subscribers are now required to pay $0,36
to send an SMS, up from $0,32.
Although Econet service delivery has been affected by
electricity load shedding like many Zimbabwean companies, stemming its revenue
generation capacity, the group has, however, devised methods of continuing to
provide quality services to its subscribers.
“We maintained quality of service despite the numerous
challenges facing businesses in Zimbabwe. In particular, limited foreign
currency and disruptions in power supply continue to put a significant strain
on our ability to provide uninterrupted excellent service,” said the company
Chairman James Myers in a statement accompanying Econet’s half-year results to
August 2020.
“Our mitigation strategies, which include moving to remote
monitoring and operation of our network, as well as reducing our reliance on
power from the grid through DPA, were critical to our success,” he said, adding
that the company expected at least an additional 18 MW of power to be availed
by DPA (an Econet group Solar power company) by the end of the financial year.
Herald
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