Posted inConnectivity

We were down this weekend

If you visited the Techzim website on Saturday, you were probably met with an error indicating the site couldn't load. It wasn't just you; we were down for most of Saturday. The issue was a hosting one, and it's the longest we've been offline because of hosting problems since launch. We're sorry for this and we'll be working with the host to reduce the chance of this happening again.
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Econet reviews EcoCash mobile money transfer tariffs
Posted inMobile Money

Econet reviews EcoCash mobile money transfer tariffs

Econet has announced through adverts in the press the 'reduction' of tariffs of its mobile money transfer service, EcoCash. The move follows a directive from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) and general pressure from the market to review the charges. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, in his 31 January Monetary Policy Statement, issued a directive to mobile operators to review their charges by end of March 2013.
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London Live 3 In 1
Posted inConnectivity

South African government charged US $10 million for a WordPress theme job

It happens all the time but this is definitely extreme. South African tech blogs reported that a web development company actually charged the South African government at least R97 million for a website. The website is basically just WordPress (free) and a WordPress theme (about $40) that they clearly didn't modify much. Here's a screenshot of the theme.
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Wabona
Posted inConnectivity Startups

Wabona and the internet opportunity for pay-per-view video streaming in Africa

We were recently in touch with Simukayi Mukuna, one of the two co-founders of a new pay-per-view video streaming service called Wabona. The service was launched in beta in November last year, and the Wabona team has since been accepted into a 88mph startup incubator in South Africa. it was great opportunity therefore for us to hear out their perspectives and plans withe the service.
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Jeremy George
Posted inConnectivity

BiNu hires former ForgetMeNot Africa CEO to grow biNu in Africa

BiNu, the smartphone in the cloud company has hired former ForgetMeNot Africa CEO, Jeremy George, to help grow biNu users and usage in Africa. We met with George last week in Harare and he discussed their strategy on the continent going forward, the sum of which is to grow content and users.
Telecel Red
Posted inConnectivity

Is Telecel Red a ripoff?

Last week, Telecel launched what the company may consider to be their biggest product launch of this year; Telecel Red. The product is basically an attempt to attract subscribers to post-paid contracts – the contracts 95% of Africans are known to shy away from.
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Posted inMobile Money

Agribank CEO, Sam Malaba, encourages banks to integrate with EcoCash

Agribank has become the latest Zimbabwean bank to integrate with the EcoCash mobile money transfer system. The announcement was made today at a press conference jointly held by the bank and Econet Wireless today in Harare. The integration is basically the same as that which Econet has secured with 3 banks so far i.e. to allow EcoCash customers to transfer money between their Agribank account and their EcoCash wallet, and the ability to do that even when they are out of the country.
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mobile-subs-market-share
Posted inConnectivity

Zimbabwe’s tele-density reaches 100%, mobile penetration now 97%

Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ), has released the December 2012 (4th quarter) mobile phone and fixed telephone subscribers statistics. According to statistics that we received from the regulator, Zimbabwe’s mobile penetration is now 97%, up from 85% in June 2012.
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Yesterday, Econet made an announcement via a release to assure the market that issues (these, issues) have been resolved with “virtually all banks” and everything working according to plan, all banks that want to be connected to EcoCash, would be integrated by end of March 2013. According to release Econet is apparently responding to fears by some financial institutions that they’ll lose customer to EcoCash integrated banks.
Posted inMobile Money

Econet on EcoCash open access: “Hey banks, here’s the deal…”

Yesterday, Econet made an announcement via a release to assure the market that issues (these, issues) have been resolved with “virtually all banks” and that if everything works according to plan, all banks that want to be connected to EcoCash, would be integrated by end of March 2013. According to the release Econet is apparently responding to fears by some financial institutions that they’ll lose customer to EcoCash integrated banks.
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Econet Services CEO, Darlington Mandivenga
Posted inConnectivity

EcoCash & Stanbic integrate. CEO Mboweni comments on ZimSwitch integration

We’re just from a press conference where Econet Wireless and Stanbic Bank announced the integration of Econet’s mobile money transfer platform, EcoCash, with Stanbic’s banking system allowing EcoCash subscribers to transfer money from and to their Stanbic accounts. Selected branches of Stanbic will also act as EcoCash Super Agents allowing EcoCash agents and customers to do EcoCash transactions.
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RLMS - Remote Livestock Marketing System
Posted inConnectivity Startups

Now you can buy your Lobola cattle online says RLMS

“In the good old days, the traditional ‘rusambo’ was a gift of cattle. Today that can be quite daunting for the groom to be – where, how and who does one get to find, look at, buy and transport the cattle to the bride’s family? Does the bride’s family have the capacity to keep and look after the animals? Can you trust the person doing the buying, especially if you are living on the other side of the planet?”
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posterous
Posted inConnectivity

Sad to see Posterous die

We were born on Posterous just more than 3 years ago. The service made blogging so startable. You'd just email an imaginary friend updating. I starting writing about stuff I was passionate about, Technology in Zimbabwe; technology platforms, companies leveraging the internet and mobile in new interesting ways.
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