Businesses across sectors have generally lamented the
challenging business environment characterised by currency volatility and
inflationary pressures.
Econet highlighted it continued to record significant
foreign currency losses due to the weakening exchange rate which deteriorated
by 172 percent for the first quarter to May 31, 2022.
This comes at a time access to foreign currency also
remains severely constrained creating further challenges in implementation of
necessary network upgrades to assure the continued level of high quality
service.
For telecoms – a capital intensive sector – adoption of a
scientific and fact-based approach to setting tariffs, that takes into account
the movements in the Telecommunications Price Index (TPI) would be a relief for
the sector, according to Econet.
“This will allow the group to remain focused on delivering
high quality digital services across the country by being able to invest
sufficiently to absorb the increasing demand for its services,” said company
secretary Charles Banda in a trading update for the first quarter to May 31,
2022.
This also comes as the group is looking at narrowing the
digital divide in the country as the rural population has remained largely
marginalised in terms of full access to digital services with less than 20
percent of devices in the country being LTE/4G capable.
Said Mr Banda: “The group, with the support of the
authorities, would like to tackle this challenge to ensure that digital
inclusivity is achieved across all sectors of our society.”
In their quest to enhance efficiency in service provision,
Econet became the first mobile network operator to roll out 5G service in
Harare towards the end of the last financial year.
In the quarter under review, 5G service was further rolled
out in Bulawayo during the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF 2022) and in
Victoria Falls as well as in Chitungwiza, bringing the total number of 5G sites
rolled out to 22. The business added 100 new 4G sites to improve network and
speed of data connectivity.
Despite these efforts, persistent national grid power
outages have affected network quality and reliability, thereby necessitating
the business to increase efforts to augment power supply with solar power.
There has also been an increase in theft of diesel,
batteries and solar panels due to mounting economic challenges forcing the
telecoms giant to increase security at its sites to counter the effects of
increased vandalism and theft.
During the first quarter, voice and data traffic grew by 6
percent and 18 percent respectively, over the previous quarter. This growth was
achieved largely due to customer acquisition strategy.
The telecommunications sector was granted a tariff
adjustment by the regulator of 61 percent in July 2022, another 61 percent with
effect from 1 September 2022, and a further 61 percent with effect from 1
November 2022.
The tariff adjustments will cover voice, SMS, data and
internet services and are determined in the local currency. Herald
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