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Cellphone boom eludes Zimbabwe
MISA-Zimbabwe
July 07, 2006

Zimbabwe's economic meltdown, in the last seven years, has seen the country losing out on the cellphone boom currently experienced by the rest of the African continent. The situation is worsened the scarcity of foreign currency and lack of investment in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

Mobile penetration in Zimbabwe is pegged at 5%, in sharp contrast to the rest of Africa where mobile phone use is spreading rapidly as an alternative to fixed lines. South Africa's mobile phone sector covers more than 70% of the population while Namibia is on 40%.

World Summit on Information Society's (WSIS) Plan of Action outlines the importance of access to information and connectivity in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MGDs). However, Zimbabwe is far from achieving the goals set out in the WSIS Plan of Action and there is little time left until the set target of 2015 for the achievement of the MDGs comes to pass.

The country boasts of only three mobile operators, Econet Wireless, state owned Net*One and Telecel Zimbabwe.

Foreign currency shortages have cramped network expansion in Zimbabwe's mobile phone sector. Dakarayi Matanga, spokesperson for Econet Wireless, Zimbabwe's biggest cellphone operator attributed 95% of the company's key components were sourced abroad.

"Therefore, any significant network expansion can only take place if and when the company can access enough hard currency to import network equipment," said Matanga.

The use and availability of lines is being couched within the framework of the pursuit of profit. Speculators buy mobile sim cards for ZW$ 3 000 000 (Aprox US30). They resell them on the black market at anything between
Z$15 000 000 million to ZW$20 000 000 (aprox US$ 150-200) as there is no restriction on the price mark-up and the ever rising demand for mobile lines pushes prices up.

State owned Net*One mobile phone company, CEO Reward Kangai said recently his company was planning to expand the network and hoped new lines would be available soon but analysts doubt it will be able to meet the huge pent-up demand from Zimbabweans. There is speculation that South Africa's and Africa's largest mobile phone company MTN might buy shares in state owned NetOne.

Privately owned, Econet has the most subscribers slightly above 400 000, Net*One has about 250 000 and Telecel has 140 000 subscribers. While Zimbabwe postal regulator the Post and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) had licensed a second fixed telephony company, TeleAccess the company has failed to roll out services for past five years.

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