Econet’s promotional broadband prices not that promotional

L.S.M Kabweza Avatar
Broadband Promotion

Broadband PromotionAs Telecel announced the opening of its mobile broadband test to all subscribers yesterday, Econet posted colorful adverts in the newspapers declaring “Up to 50% off on broadband tariffs. Now you can enjoy more broadband for less.”

Naturally, we were delighted. Happy because Econet’s broadband has by far the widest coverage in Zimbabwe and is arguable the fastest broadband too (that’s a story for another day). The delight didn’t last;  at the bottom the advert explains (less shouty this time) that it’s just a promotion and valid only for a month. And like that’s not enough cold water poured already, the slashed prices aren’t that promotional. Here:

  • 1MB for US $ 0.15
  • 5MB for US $0.55
  • 10MB for US $1.00
  • 55MB for US $5.50
  • 125MB for US $12.50
  • 250MB for US $25.00
  • 600MB for US $54.00
  • 1200MB for US $90.00

In summary, the promotional price per megabyte for the smallest bundle (1MB) is still the most expensive on the mobile broadband market. So is the 5M bundle. And at US 10 cents per megabyte, bundles from 10MB to the 250MB are priced at Telecel’s test tariff announced by Telecel yesterday.

The 600MB and 1200MB bundles are indeed cheaper than the Telecel offering, but the bundle prices are US $54.00 and US $90 respectively. How many average Zimbabweans afford buying these large bundles?

More comparison: Africom’s 1 Gigabyte bundle (a thousand megabytes) is priced at US $18.00, that’s US 2 cents per megabyte. After you exhaust the gigabyte, the price goes up to US 11 cents per megabyte. PowerTel’s is US $50 a month for unlimited browsing.

So, Econet, thanks but no thanks. You can do a lot better than that. You’re making enough to be a bit more generous.

 

25 comments

  1. Anonymous

     How does the Econet speed and reliability compare to the cheaper options you outlined.  Saying it is $50 unlimited it pointless if I get 1kps and can only download 100 mb even if i left it on all month.  Im not saying this is the case, I have never tested those links, does anyone have a comparison?

    At those prices econet are comparable to ADSL, UHF and WiMax ISPS (yo, zol etc), their on peak international usage anyway, obviously the other ISPs are still much better when you consider free local and free off peak.  But most business do not make much use of that, and they not mobile.

    Its good to see how the ISPs have been improving over the last few months,  I must say YoAfrica’s links are working fantastically at the moment, by using some VPN etc I have been streaming 480P (equivalent quality) content like live sport and been able to play games on international servers with little to no lag, not to mention can pull down 5 gig + for free over a weekend.  All this on their cheapest package as well.  I have had a lot of complaints against Zim ISPs in the last few years, good to see we are turning a corner!

    1. Anonymous

      Own experience is that Econet’s broadband is as good as Africom’s. Will post results of speed test at later date. But Africom doesn’t have a truly mobile (phone) experience so…

      Experience with Telecel’s broadband is that it’s not as good as Econet’s, However it is usable. We’ve reviewed PowerTel here before; summary is that it’s usable but availability is lower than Econet or Africom and again not truly mobile experience.. Not sure if things have improved since. 

      Advantage of PowerTel is that if you afford to pay the $50 then you can do heavy downloads and depending on your work/lifestyle this can be an unbeatable offer. Like we said before, we don’t think Telecel’s pricing (the test) is that attractive; just slightly lower than Econet & definitely can’t match Africom.

      Point of article is that the promotion has nothing to write home about… almost doesn’t change anything.

      1. mchood

        Thanks for the update, it is good to know what other options are out there, changing ISPs is not something a business does often, because of the risk of the new one being worse.

        Fully agree this “promotion” should go a lot further, interesting to see the market the trying to target with it. 

        1. Anonymous

          Agree, for an organisation changing an ISP is a big decision. and changeover is not always without some downtime. and yes. new one can be worse.

  2. Macd

     powertel when its working, like if there is no electricity cuts, it is
    really good. No one can beat them. l have been using it for the last 5
    months. But the last month and half its rubbish, unusable and totally a waste of money.

    Econet, while, l have been using it on a mobile phone for almost a year
    now, but heyi!!!! they really know how to get premium charges out of
    every of there services give nothing back in every form, be it customer
    care, price cuts, promotions or anything at all. Chidya mafuta
    chisingakori.

  3. chiki

    interesting to note that Econet nver bothers to respond to genuine cutomer complaints such as this ‘blog’- even acknowledgement and assusrance that they are working on the issues raised. Smacks of serious Arrongance  that we as cutomers wont forget when the market has better competition in the not too distant future

  4. Ash

    Well i started using africom today i must say its faster than econet, in my opinion . .  not to mention cheaper

    1. anonymous

      ok im downloading at 200k, with africom, this is pretty fast

  5. Ash

    Well i started using africom today i must say its faster than econet, in my opinion . .  not to mention cheaper

  6. Fourwallsinaroom

    I will continue to point out that Econet speeds are based on your device.  If you have a gprs edge device browsing is slow.  If you have a HSPDA+ device then you are good to go.  Personally i will never change from Econet.

  7. JamesM

    Econet’s prices, promotional prices or not are not attractive and you are surprised??? Econet knows full well they are guaranteed the Zim market as the the powers that be will ensure that. That Econet couldn’t care less about their unattractive prices, not to mention lousy customer service is that they know full well that they are guaranteed the Zim market. Africom is the only real internet company in Zim at the moment and I would recommend (actually have been) to others. I have tried Powertell but during the last 2 months their service has given a new meaning to the word USELESS! As for Telecel, it’s still too early to say but I will try them every so often.

  8. Tafmak3000

     Econ$t’s pricing regime is normal and if anything very sensible! What Econet wants is to make the most profits possible, businesses usually do this by charging as much as they can to a point that does not become so unattractive it reduces profits! 
    So what Econet has been doing with their pricing from my observation  is not charge the least they can at any given moment in time but instead charge the most they can without reducing profits (not sales, PROFITS!) The revenue they get now is the same they will get if they reduce costs to a certain level and attract more users with however, the added capacity utilization which will disrupt the quality of their current service.Their prices will be eventually reviewed to match current market prices as soon as Tele”sale” come on board and get the their good ol’ outpricing strategy in full swing! Don’t be disheartened the price wars will commence soon but before they do Econet will milk the market as much as possible, I know if I were them I would have milked all of you dry thats business! Remember the sim cards, and how that ended?   In the mean time just to while up time let’s complain and pretend they’ll listen!

  9. Itai

    i mantain my sentiments when africom was launched. they are the best so far. they have maintained their service delivery. fast internet at a very affordable price. Powertel is a nice to have yet u pay $50 / month for shoddy service. unlimited downloads at midnight when everyone is asleep i guess.  Econet, not trying it on my laptop since Africom serves me jus fine. On my fone, Econet has been up and down i think its a capacity issue…

  10. Fungaizw

    Bottom line is our internet is very expensive whoever the ISP is.An IT consultant friend in the UK was astonished by the $98 Gig price

  11. Greg Chiponda

    at 10MB for US $1.00 (R7) thi is r3 rand cheaper than pricess for Cel, Vodacom and MTN in south africa. so internet is cheaper in zimbabwe than it is in south africa

    1. SONET

      Ok, interesting

      1200MB for $90 (R630)  CelC,VodaCom & MTN avarage 1200MB cost R280 ($40), so internet is very very expensive in zimbabwe compared to south africa

    2. Giffa
  12. pissed from zim

    all internet in zimbabwe is ____.
    i want u guys to compare with dubai or egypt.
    it is lyk 7.2 mbps for only 100 pounds($15).
    that is crab as hell here

  13. zhazhzhz

    econet has a poor service…Their pricing states 0.10c pr MB, well that’s a lie coz with a $ 1.00 you’ll never reach 10MB’s infect you will use only 7.3 MB’s according to my calculations..these people are only after money, they make people queue the whole day only to get internate settings for their phones…these people monopolise use 

  14. Fungaizw

    it would be interesting to hear the internet prices form other parts of the world and lets not forget econet internet is the internet accessible and used by the majority including a lot of corporates

  15. Fyi

    Ha ha. 24GB here is only US$50 in my country. And it’s unlimited between 2am and 6am. Guaranteed between 4Mbps and 7Mbps or 10Mbps to 14.4Mbps depending on your modem. It’s about time you Africans start complaining about your so-called ISPs

  16. Fyiagain

    And btw 6 hours free is a lot. In that time I can on average download about 12GB.

  17. Sandyachapman

    How can one know how many dollars is used and how many are left? Someone told me there is a clock showing dollars used, but I have not been able to find it.

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