Econet data bundle prices set to be increased soon

Zimbabwe’s largest telecommunications company Econet will soon be increasing prices for data bundles. This is hardly surprising because Econet, for whatever reason, is the only mobile network operator that hasn’t yet increased data bundle prices. Telecel and NetOne both reviewed their prices for data bundles not long ago.

In a report by the Herald, Econet may soon be raising prices for data to match inflation and operational costs.

“We will be reviewing our data bundle prices and it could come in a week or two, if not earlier. The price of our data bundles are, on average, currently the lowest on the market right now,”

The Herald

An 80 MB Daily bundle is ZWL$32.00 on Econet and on NetOne the same data allocation is ZWL$50.00

Econet data bundle prices are, according to the same report, going to go up by as much as 50%. Increasing the prices by this margin will bring Econet data bundle prices to the same level as NetOne and Telecel.

Late last month we reported that the Post and Telecommunications Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) had given MNOs the green light to increase prices. Mobile Network Operators were also given the green light to charge in both local and foreign currency in accordance with SI 185/2020

This meant that MNOs were able to charge at the interbank rate at the time POTRAZ authorisation was granted. POTRAZ, however, didn’t give any indication on the interval structure of the price increases.

It is interesting (strange) that Econet hadn’t increased their data bundle prices because they reviewed their prices for voice, SMS and data (out of bundle per megabyte) soon after POTRAZ gave the go-ahead. I, at least expected Econet to be front and centre when it came to increases prices for their services.