A different TelOne? Is Chipo Mutasa succeeding with TelOne turn-around?

L.S.M Kabweza Avatar
Chipo Mtasa
TelOne MD, Chipo Mutasa

Back in 2011 I told a tale of TelOne taking a long painful 3 months and 21 days after application just to install ADSL at my home. And even then, it seemed, my ranting about it may have helped. If you have needed ADSL over the past year, you probably noticed the situation has changed drastically.

At the Techzim office in November last year, we had our landline and internet installed in about 2 weeks. We we don’t use the name ‘Techzim’ for official paper stuff so they likely didn’t know it was us. Colleagues have told me of even lesser waiting periods. Granted, 2 weeks is still not the 1 day that it should be, but that change is very significant!

In our yearly round-up for 2013, we wrote:

Signs of TelOne turning around
This didn’t really start as a high when TelOne announced the appointment of a new MD, Chipo Mutasa. We’ll admit that we weren’t optimistic about the appointment arguing like other people that she wasn’t tech savvy enough. Fortunately, it seems we were wrong. Though we’re not clear about the bottom line achievements, it doesn’t take a genius to see that TelOne is turning around and making itself as serious a contender in the internet space as any company, which is quite commendable for a government company.

The marketing has changed, the turnaround on new service applications has reduced drastically. She’s also reportedly managed to recover some of the debts everyone thought TelOne couldn’t possibly wish to get.

TelOne made some very impressive business decisions, like realising that with a pre-paid ADSL, there was no point denying customers with high outstanding voice bills access to a different service that they’d pay for before using.

We also hear and notice that Mutasa made some significant staffing adjustments bringing in younger people with, ideally, fresh perspective. This may be contributing to the changed TelOne.

Have you also noticed a different TelOne, or are we just looking so hard for progress we are bound to see it even when not significant? We’d love to know your view in the comments below.

11 comments

  1. Anthony Somerset

    there still behind the times with there per gig ADSL packages though, TelOne and uMax are the last 2 “big” ISP’s yet to go unlimited – who knows maybe they will come up with something spectacular this year?

    1. MhukaHuru

      They do have unlimited, the one that goes for over 250 a month . . . Platinum package, am onto that, and the speeds are very good as well

      1. Anthony Somerset

        i used to be on platinum – there service got quite bad last year so i switched to fibre and never looked back – but i mean unlimited on all there packages at competitive rates – like ZOL or YoAfrica are doing

      2. purple

        We use platinum package…but we are in the process of switching to fibre optic. They really need to improve their speeds

  2. TichM

    Really?? 2 weeks?? I applied for a new line + ADSL on 20 December 2013. I am still waiting to be connected. I followed up 2 weeks ago and I was told to wait 2 weeks. Who can I get in touch with at Telone to voice my frustration and hopefully get some service.

  3. James Brak

    Improvement indeed, applied for ADSL and got connected after 3 working days in December 2013

  4. WalalaWasala

    TelOne has definitely improved…applied fo ADSl and in 3 working days it was done. They are responding to faults much faster too. report today and tomorrow there’s someone knocking on your door….quite an improvement

  5. RICKY

    Its a sleeping giant beggninig to work up.we have seen positive change .i had my fault attende in 24hrs instead of the usual month

  6. purple

    This time around they are responsive to customers……Please improve on speed though

  7. fungai

    Maybe these guys could also launch a wireless system like the zol system and also look into their pricing and packages because to be honest the zol 1Mbps has been brilliant for me

  8. Andre Flanagan

    I have a problem in that I cannot get tax invoices for the ADSL. I know it is prepaid but still need a tax invoice to claim vat. On Platinum I am paying $32 odd every month that I cannot claim!

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