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Telcoms sector increases tariffs in Zimbabwe
Memory Masawi, The Herald (Zimbabwe)
October 10, 2006

http://allafrica.com/stories/200610100354.html

The communications sector has increased local, regional and international tariffs with immediate effect, a move that has caught subscribers off guard. Among the communication firms are Zimbabwe Posts (Zimpost), TelOne, NetOne and Econet.

This comes at a time when the Post and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) has increased termination rates to US20c for mobile calls and US15c for mobile via fixed network calls.

TelOne which is the gateway of the telecommunications and broadcasting companies has reviewed its tariffs to local calls now costing $31,37 per unit which is equivalent to three minutes during peak period and four minutes off peak.

It is the conviction of communication firms that tariffs had become too cheap, a situation that compromised profitability.

Generally, a call to Econet line is now costing $36,80, to NetOne $39,15 and to Telecel $43,05 during peak period.

Trunk calls per minute are now ranging between $13,20 and $26,58 during peak periods and between $11,85 and $23,88 off peak depending on the distance between exchanges.

The tariff increases have also affected Internet cost with the charges being composed of a minute local charge plus 20 percent to be at $12,55 during peak and $9,41 off peak.

The phone shop tariff to Econet is now $51,52, Telecel $60,27 and to NetOne $54,79 while trunk calls now range between $18,48 to $37,21 during peak period. Inmarsat calls are now $1, 827 during peak and $2,539 in phone shops.

NetOne has increased its tariffs exclusive of Value Added Tax with Easycall to Econet at $69, to TelOne $51, Telecel at $75 and NetOne at $58.

Local text message now cost $20, cross network $25, international $35, Premium $100 and Immarsat at $1,834 while voicemail retrieval now cost $8.

Econet has also announced its tariffs exclusive of VAT with charges from Econet to Econet ranging between $51 and $55 during peak and $48 to $51 off peak.

Local text message is now $15, international $31 and premium $100 during peak while $14,$29 and $95 off peak respectively. Buddie access simpack and sim card replacement fee is now $3 330 inclusive of $2 500 airtime. Econet, which is looking forward to releasing new lines, at least 300 000 this month, is currently working on its network expansion.

"We expect to commence releasing new lines in the third week of October and to have issued all the 300 000 lines by the end of February 2007,

"We are unable to release all the lines at once because of the need to ensure network stability," said Econet in a statement.

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