• No number portability for Zimbabwe as POTRAZ changes goal posts, pushes probable adoption to 2017

    It was set for 2014, deliberated on at length but still hasn’t happened and the new date (actually, no date was set, it’s just been pushed to later this year or in 2017), coupled with a could/if/might attitude just means that it’s been overlooked again even after all these years.

  • Lack of number portability is killing NetOne’s growth prospects

    Without the option to easily move from one service provider to another, subscribers who aren’t willing to face the frustration and inconvenience that comes with a new line and a new phone number are forced to hold on to their existing lines and even great packages that are released seasonally aren’t even explored by new subscribers.

  • NetOne and Telecel, it’s in the value you offer not the number portability

    Subscribers matter and I guess for each of our local mobile network operators that are out to wrench us from the other two networks, we really mean a lot to their bottom line. That $6 you spend on WhatsApp and Facebook every month or the $1 top up to make calls is a significant boost for […]

  • Telecel number matching: smart substitute for mobile number portability with weak incentives

    Telecel Zimbabwe is still out to give you reason to cross over to its network, this time its with a workaround for the absence of mobile number portability. The Telecel number matching service has just been unveiled as part of its Switch Over Campaign. This service allows new Telecel subscribers who are crossing over from […]

  • Number portability a response to market saturation & consumer needs, POTRAZ

    In a recent interview with POTRAZ deputy director general Alfred Marisa, he explained that the introduction of number portability is in response to market saturation in the local mobile telecoms as well as the needs of consumers. POTRAZ issued a notice to all mobile operators two weeks ago advising them to ensure number portability is […]

  • Zimbabwe number portability: POTRAZ issues notice to operators (Exclusive)

    POTRAZ expects mobile operators to implement number portability in 2014 POTRAZ says it regards number portability as an important regulatory tool to widen subscriber choice and promote service based competition  A source in the industry has told us that POTRAZ just issued a notice to all mobile operators in Zimbabwe informing them that number portability […]

  • Stimulating competition in telecoms with Mobile Number Portability

    Dollar for three are the buzzwords for Telecel customers, which refers to Telecel’s popular mega-juice airtime top-up card which costs $1 but offers $3 worth of value, i.e. $1 allowing off-net calls, $1 bonus for on-net calls and a $1 data bundle worth 10MB. Tariff wise, Telecel offers a $0.23 rate across all networks. Compare this to the $0.23-0.25 depending on call destination by the other mobile operators.

  • How WhatsApp is stripping away the phone number, and why mobile operators are panicked

    The phone number was traditionally a valuable asset to mobile telecoms operators. Once a customer bought a sim card, the MNO’s job was to keep that customer on the network as long as possible while ensuring that the customer was using the sim card for things that made the network money – making calls, sending SMSs, mobile money transactions, buying […]

  • Salvaging the Telecel wreckage, NetOne offers subscribers option to retain number

    It’s only been a few days since word got out that the telecoms regulator, POTRAZ, had given Telecel, the country’s third-largest mobile operator, 30 days to shut down operations. It didn’t come as a shock, this move had been exposed by the Minister of ICT a while ago. Another thing that’s not shocking though, is […]

  • Podcast: TelOne ADSL cards, Telecel number matching & the $20 WhatsApp Phone

    In this episode of the weekly Techzim podcast we discuss a host of trending topics in tech this past week. Some of the topics include the $20 Astro Goat WhatsApp phone from Astro Zimbabwe, the ADSL recharge cards that TelOne introduced in this past week, the number matching service introduced by Telecel and the latest […]

  • What Will Work Best For MNOs In 2018, Competition or Collaboration?

    “Competition makes us faster; Collaboration makes us better.” Anonymous To compete or to collaborate? To say these are mutually exclusive would be quite inaccurate. However, it’s important to note that most times when we choose one, the other suffers. I chose to look at this dilemma with a special focus on Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) because […]

  • 5 issues that the new POTRAZ boss should tackle to improve telecoms in Zimbabwe

    While POTRAZ has its own broad definition of what its role is as a regulator along with a breakdown of the duties and responsibilities of the Director General, we have listed just 5 areas that the new Director General will hopefully address.

  • Understanding Econet as it prepares for the half year results. What does the future look like?

    Does Econet get the internet? Looking at the Tengai experience (it hasn’t been restored more than 2 months later), a strange EcoShopper product, and the long silence on ipidi you get a sense of how much Econet is prepared for business at this level.

  • Using a SIM card? Apple and Samsung want you to get rid of it

    Apple and Samsung are planning to kill the SIM card by introducing an embedded e SIM. This would allow phone users to switch between operators at any moment

  • Kenya OKs the Slim SIM. When will this telecoms monopoly disruptor get to Zim?

    The Slim sim introduces mobile number and anti-monopoly disruption and makes it possible for MVN operators, Financial Services Providers, Banks and other players to offer all the usual services plus more sophisticated VAS in addition to the services provided by your current operator

  • With all these reasons to be upset about Econet’s bundles, you could try these options

    Econet adjusted its social media bundles, but it wasn’t just a play on price. the new bundles packages have data limits. Rather than just yell at the operator, there are other options that you can explore. Here are just three examples, Telecel bundles, NetOne bundles and Africom WiFi.

  • The 5 gaffes in the 2014 Zimbabwe technology space

    Before we do the countdown to the new year and start living through those New Year’s resolutions, we’ve decided to take a look at not only the winners and losers, but also the embarrassing moments from the Zimbabwe technology space that we’ll gladly leave behind this year. Here are just five faux pas from 2014. […]

  • Event blog: Telecoms infrastructure sharing submissions to POTRAZ

    This article was a live blog of a POTRAZ event held on 15 December 2014. The event was held to get input from operators and other stakeholders in the telecoms ecosystem. As you maybe aware, today, POTRAZ is holding an event to discuss infrastructure sharing. In attendance here are operators, NGOs, a few politicians (one […]

  • Mobile Money in Zimbabwe: Of EcoCash, Telecash and …well, OneWallet

    First, congratulations to the EcoCash team for winning the AfricaCom Best Mobile Money award. No doubt a few heads have turned towards Zimbabwe and we appreciate it. Congratulations as well to NetOne for the OneWallet re-launch. We hold our breath as we await Telecel’s Telecash launch. There has been quite some hype surrounding Telecash’s mobile […]

  • Consumers provide feedback to POTRAZ on telecoms consumer protection

    If there’s one thing that we wish would get some attention and be fixed in Zimbabwe, it is the poor level of service that all of us mobile phone service consumers have to contend with while the 3 sisters (no, we are tempted to but we won’t refer to them as the 3 evil sisters) […]

  • Advice for the ICT Minister, Nelson Chamisa, from some Zimbabweans

    About a week ago, after Zimbabwe’s ICT Minister Nelson Chamisa declared it was time to read the riot act on the country’s mobile operators for poor service delivery, we decided to crowd source some advice for the minister through our Facebook page. We asked the following of the 4,300 people that follow our page: If […]

  • Addressing Revenue Assurance in telecoms

    According to a market research report released by global research firm, Frost & Sullivan (May 9 2011), Zimbabwe’s mobile communications revenue will reach US $ 1.34 billion by 2016, with 20.1% compound annual growth rate. This is only achievable if these firms consider and monitor tightly the revenue assurance cycle. Let’s look at the prominent areas in depth;

  • A vote of confidence for Telecel

    Orascom Telecom have ceased their fence sitting ways with Telecel Zimbabwe in a big way. The Independent reported on Friday that the company will pump in $70 million into Telecel Zimbabwe. This move is very significant for the company beyond monetary value as Vimpelcom (Orascom’s parent) has made a commitment to channel its global resources for the benefit of the local unit.

  • 12 banks implementing ZimSwitch Mobile. Platform to be mobile network neutral

    We met ZimSwitch business development manager Adam Roscoe this week to discuss the newly unveiled ZimSwitch Mobile platform. Roscoe disclosed in the interview that a total of 12 financial institutions are either live, performing tests, or starting implementation of ZimSwitch Mobile. The platform enables all financial institutions connected to ZimSwitch (currently 19 Institutions) to offer […]

  • BarCamp: Thoughts and contributions on building scalable startups & products

    Wow! Wednesday was a great day to reflect on for us here at Techzim. BarCamp Zimbabwe; the country’s first grassroots ICT event finally came together. The event was made possible through the support of ZOL and other sponsors like Byers Design, Matamba Anonaka Technology Holdings, Webdev and Zimbojam. It was also the work of great individuals in the organizing team, notably; Joseph Manzungu, Lennex Zinyando, Christine Dube, Chengetai Chikwanha, Richwell Phinias, Richard Mberi, Larry Kwirirayi and many other people who helped leading to the event.

  • Valley Technologies, a possible game changer for Zimbabwe’s telecoms industry

    Today, we spent the better part of the morning at the Spiritage network operation center in Harare. We were invited along with a dozen other writers from the various media houses in Zimbabwe to a “pre-launch media briefing” of the business group. First, let me say of all the Zim internet access providers (IAPs) we’ve talked to in recent months, today was the first time we felt we were at a company that’s set to take on the big incumbents head-on and possibly redefine Zimbabwe’s telecoms industry going forward.

  • VoIP: The future of voice communication in Zimbabwe

    IP Telephony has been around since as early as 1973 and has over the past decade been enhanced to attain telephone (PSTN) voice quality. Today VoIP services are offered internationally by traditional telecom operators (e.g. BT in the UK) and dedicated IP phone networks like Skype.

  • Xiaomi 12s Ultra concept has a built-in Leica lens mount!

    Xiaomi announced their concept, the 12s Ultra, with the highlight being their partnership with Leica. Outside of professional camera circles, Leica’s popularity was brought about by its collaboration with Huawei for the camera system. That partnership has since ended thanks to a lack of Google services destroying sales of Huawei devices globally. So Xiaomi came […]

  • HP Pavilion Gaming 15 review – not much better for the price, parliament should consider it

    With the $9,200 laptops still in mind, we should look at the $800 one I have been using for a few months. The performance I am getting from this HP Pavilion Gaming 15 makes me wonder why anyone would ever pay more, especially $8,500 more. I will concede that there is someone for whom the […]

  • They are now printing solar panels on paper like newspapers, would be great for Zim

    These scientists are always cooking up crazy stuff man. I’m glad this time around they are working on something that would be a complete game changer in these parts of the world – solar. Don’t get me wrong, I love the folding phones and the other completely unnecessary but cool tech we see. However, solar […]

Connect with us

2023 © Techzim All rights reserved. Hosted By Cloud Unboxed

Privacy Policy

Exit mobile version