Dudes, this article was just another April Fools Day joke. Don’t panic & don’t take it seriously. Bundles have NOT been banned. See clarification article here.
Zimbabwe’s telecommunications regulator, POTRAZ, has announced that it will be banning all over the top service bundles for applications like WhatsApp, Facebook and Opera Mini.
All operators currently providing such services which have been available since 2014 have been given 7 days to comply and they are to ensure that subscribers are duly informed with relevant compensation provided to everyone affected by the termination of the service.
This information which was shared in a statement issued to all telecoms operators comes in the wake of an International Telecommunications Union (ITU) resolution passed the 24th of March 2016, which compelled all member countries to uphold a new convention on internet access standards.
The effect of this resolution has been a series of changes to internet access regulations across the world, with Zimbabwe becoming the third country in Sub-Saharan Africa to put it into effect.
One anticipated reaction will be the celebrations from net neutrality proponents that have been lobbying for a fair internet where all applications and services are provided to consumers at the same price.
This cause has however not been fully embraced by mobile operators who have fallen back on services like WhatsApp and Facebook bundles as a way of generating revenue from a coterie of services that have been identified as actually destroying traditionally lucrative services like voice calling and SMS.
Commenting on this development, one senior telecommunications executive who preferred to remain anonymous expressed his disappointment with this development.
This motion will have a negative impact on Zimbabwean internet consumption. It’s more harm than good, really. While it’s obvious that we introduced these bundles as a way of squeezing revenue from WhatsApp and all these other disruptive apps, these bundles have helped introduce more people to the internet and maintain revenues that benefit the government through taxes. POTRAZ should know this better than everyone else. Perhaps they should just ban WhatsApp instead, like we’ve always suggested.
Some merit does lie in that statement, though. While services like WhatsApp bundles spit in the face of net neutrality, they have become a very reliable way of navigating around the huge cost of broadband and have propped up telecoms revenues by boosting data services revenue while voice services continue to plummet.
The bundles have also been a great buffer for Zimbabweans hard worn by a tough economy. Rather than pay for huge amounts of data every month to stay connected, subscribers only need $3 a month to remain active on WhatsApp, something which has resulted in WhatsApp bundles becoming the most popular service accessed via the internet in Zimbabwe.
While efforts to get a comment from POTRAZ or the Ministry of ICT have been fruitless, it is understood that the mobile operators have since mounted an appeal with the Minister of ICT Supa Mandiwanzira to have the resolution amended before the 7 day period is up.
Sorry folks. This article was just another April Fools Day joke. 😉
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30 comments
I just got the SMS from Econet saying it has been banned. 🙂 Speedy reporting guys i like it.
KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
Mabasa eZanu PF Aya. Manje so . They should just give a 10$ monthly lite access for all www access.
Ever since Super was exposed by that Agrippa guy we are getting crazy laws passed on & besides it’s almost 2018 huku irikurwara
Ha ha ha what’s the date today?
Tika tika neZanu Pf pamessage yeFools Day! Zvichida Zanu Pf yacho ndoyakatounza futi fools day since iri responsible for every fault munyika.
fools day lol
Could this be April fools day prank!
Fools!
Eish you spilt the beans early.. was really hoping to see how far we could milk this one.
Fools Day message
Fool’s Day Baby.
isn’t it an April fool’s prank
Well net meutrality works hand in hand with reasonable tariffs for example my friends outside the country pay like 19 for unlimited sms minutes and 1gb lte data. Bt in here tariffs are expensive so net neutrluty wont work as well those bundles jelp communication plus munhu will switch to ot downloading as much vids or pics or use wifi since hatisikudzoka ku .20/min and .07 an sms.
Amana truing to cure tb ne paracet cnt believe someone being paid 7000+ benefits comes up with such mickey mouse laws.
kkkk I’m sure this has something to do with today being April the first!!!
Fools.
On the 1st of April yes i expect news of this kind
Staff writer I hope you will set the record straight by end of day.
He/She already has at the bottom of the article
eish, you had got me right there @staff_writer
I think the move is a wise one. It levels the playing field in a number of ways. Do go onto this blog post and read on what the author has to say (http://goo.gl/7xGLFe). It could prove to be an insightful approach.
Is this not an April Fools day prank??
It’s all in the date
Never! This is a fools Day’s Prank. POTRAZ has no capacity to implement international decisions this fast. If they cannot enforce their own decisions what more of international resolutions. You sold yourself right there.
You lost the plot for me when you stated that mobile telecoms operators were trying to engage the regulator. A few weeks ago they were actually lobbying POTRAZ to ban OTT services.
While the article was written in jest, it asks important questions. Why do operators create app-specific bundles in the first place? It’s not like they get a subsidy on the data for that app (twitter or Whatsapp) – at the end of the month, the MNO is still paying for the internet traffic. Unless it’s a loss-leading strategy, all it shows is that the MNOs can afford to lower general data prices.
Happy Fool`s Day
Kkkkkkkk ayas
kkkkkkkk hakuna zvakadai
Hats off you get us every year. The DSTV one last year got me hard. Brilliant
Cry Wolf more than April Fool.Shame there aren’t any imaginative thinkers at TechZim to come up with a master piece. Have a study at the one about spaghetti being harvested from trees for some ideas for next year hey!