Category: Broadband

  • No, Starlink is not disconnecting terminals in Zimbabwe…. At least not yet

    No, Starlink is not disconnecting terminals in Zimbabwe…. At least not yet

    A screenshot shared on X yesterday, by Kuda Musasiwa, a popular Zimbabwean on the platform suggested that Starlink has started disconnecting Zimbabweans.

    The screenshot, an email supposedly from Starlink, was shared with the caption:

    Local “Authorities” have instructed us to disable your service.

    kwachu!! Ironically this means that even ZBCs and Ministers starlinks will now be disabled.

    Kwachustan is a Crime Scene

    The email itself reads:

    “You are currently using Starlink in an unauthorized territory. Local telecommunication authorities have instructed Starlink to disable your services.

    As described in your Terms of Service, Starlink does not guarantee when or where its Mobile or Mobile Priority Services Plans will be available. Use of such services is dependent on many factors, including obtaining or maintaining the necessary regulatory approvals which are subject to change. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you”, reads part of the message.

    You may pause service and billing by following the instructions here or continue service and use your Starlink service in an area we currently serve (see map here). If you opt to pause service, you can reach out to support and we will issue a service credit for any remainder of the current billing period.”

    Techzim has since determined this claim is false. A Starlink black market dealer in Zimbabwe has told us users are not at all receiving such emails from SpaceX.

    The dealer, who prefers anonymity given his business, also said this particular screenshot has been making the rounds for at least 2 weeks and, until yesterday at least, the claim was that the email was received by Starlink users in DRC. “It’s the same screenshot doing the rounds.” he said.

    It’s “Yes” and “Not enough” depending on who you ask.

    In February, reports suggested Starlink equipment belonging to hundreds of customers had been deactivated. The kits would have been smuggled from a country like Zambia, Mozambique and Eswatini where Starlink is licensed and operating. So it is happening outside Zimbabwe for now.

    People that don’t want other people using Starlink are complaining the company isn’t doing enough to prevent and stop ‘illegal use’. Take this Bloomberg article for example that calls the situation a “systemic global problem”:

    How they are smuggled and the sheer availability of Starlink on the black market suggests that its misuse is a systemic global problem, raising questions about the company’s control of a system with clear national security dimensions.

    Just to be clear, the context of the Bloomberg article is Russia and the war in Ukraine. In response to questions about Russia’s use of Starlink kits, the company said in February:

    If SpaceX obtains knowledge that a Starlink terminal is being used by a sanctioned or unauthorized party, we investigate the claim and take actions to deactivate the terminal if confirmed.

    The Starlink seller Techzim spoke to was actually worried that tweets like Kuda’s (which has since been deleted) and articles like this one, will give Zimbabwe’s telecoms regulator POTRAZ ideas.

    But as pointed out in our article last month:

    Starlink cannot just pull the plug on all the kits in countries where their service is not yet approved. That’s because part of their service offering is the roaming service.

    According to the Bloomberg article referenced earlier, there’s a workaround Starlink users and dealers have resorted to. Apparently, the terminal can be re-registered in a different country and reactivated, then you roam with it again.

    In Africa, Starlink is licensed in Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Eswatini, Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria and Benin.

  • China asks local EV Companies to increase spend on Chinese chipmakers

    China asks local EV Companies to increase spend on Chinese chipmakers

    The Chinese government has asked domestic Electronic Vehicle (EV) companies to increase spending with local chipmakers. This is an effort to reduce dependence on American chipmakers.

    The directive, according to a Bloomberg report, was issued by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

    This strategy of buying from Chinese companies, both by consumers and also by Chinese manufacturers, is hurting US companies competing against Chinese companies in China. Chinese EV company BYD dethroned Tesla to become the world’s top seller of electric vehicles last year. To do that, BYD has relied on its home market of China for more than 80% of its sales.

    But BYD is also strong outside China. Since 2021, is started rapidly expanding its global presence with a focus on passenger vehicles. In Africa it has presence in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Kenya and other countries. In most of these countries, it’s the only EV and Hybrid automaker that has local manufacture and assembly presence.

    Another company smarting from this strategy is Apple. Its iPhone sales were down 24% in China as Huawei flagships are increasingly popular there. This growth in Huawei phones popularity has resulted in the resurgence of the telecoms company as a big contender even globally.

    EVs, like phones and computers, rely heavily on computer chips. In 2023, the US implemented licensing requirements restricting chip exports to China, citing national security and foreign policy objectives. These restrictions apply to dual-use items and some non-sensitive military technology.

    However, these measures have become a double-edged sword, causing difficulties for both US and Chinese companies. In response, China is actively working to reduce its reliance on US technology.

    On the US side, chipmaker Nvidia acknowledged earlier this year in its filings that its “competitive position has been harmed” as a result of the restrictions.

    But the US itself is not stopping the trade war. This past week, the US House voted in favour of a bill threatening TikTok with a ban — unless it is divested from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, within 6 months.

    U.S. officials have suggested that TikTok’s security and privacy policies leave room for its data to be with the Chinese government. The Chinese government hasn’t reacted strongly to the TikTok bill yet. Instead of taking drastic action, they’ve criticized the bill as unfair treatment by the US.

  • Dandemutande officially launched their $8m fibre network and gave a few more details about it

    Dandemutande officially launched their $8m fibre network and gave a few more details about it

    We recently talked about Dandemutande’s $8 million investment into a fibre optic network. We noted that it was supposed to be completed by the end of February 2024 and it appears they met their deadline.

    Dandemutande and Fibre Connections officially launched the fibre optic project at an event held in Somabhula.

    Here is a reminder of the details of that project. Dandemutande co-built a fibre network of 717km from Beitbridge to Harare and an additional 144km of optic fibre between Somabhula and Bulawayo for an investment of $5 million.

    Here are a few other details we didn’t know

    They invested a further $1.5 million in active equipment and a solar backup solution that ensures sustainable redundancy.

    Dandemutande owns 48 of the 96 cores on the route, and therefore a 50% stake in the infrastructure. When it comes to bandwidth, 100Gbps of capacity is currently lit but it is scalable to 400Gbps.

    This needs breaking down. It simply means they currently have a connection with a capacity of 100 Gigabits per second (Gbps). This is the amount of data that can be transmitted through the connection in one second.

    However, the infrastructure is designed to handle an increase in bandwidth up to 400Gbps should the need arise.

    To simplify it even further, here’s a popular analogy to explain bandwidth: Imagine a highway with multiple lanes. The “100Gbps currently lit” refers to the number of lanes currently open for traffic flow.

    “Scalable to 400Gbps” means the highway can be expanded to accommodate more lanes (increased bandwidth) if necessary.

    I think this analogy works really well in Zimbabwe because in recent years we have seen highways and roads expanded to accommodate new lanes. Some of these expansion projects ran into the problem of houses that had been built too close to the road, which meant the need to destroy houses to expand the roads. They were not scalable.

    What 100Gbps means for Dandemutande

    They say this capacity will enable them to provide carrier-grade backhaul services from South Africa to Zimbabwe.

    This simply means Dandemutande can provide the backbone for other companies to offer internet services in Zimbabwe.

    Backhaul refers to the high-capacity connections that carry data traffic between networks, often over long distances like SA to Zim in this case.

    “Carrier-grade” means that these services are presumably reliable, secure, and meet the demanding requirements of mobile network operators (MNOs) and other internet service providers (ISPs).

    In addition to the fibre backbone laid, Dandemutande plans to invest an additional US$3 million in metro fibre to connect Beitbridge, Bulawayo, Gweru, Kwekwe, and Harare which will increase its national footprint, bringing greater convenience, increased bandwidth, and lower costs to the customer. 

    Dandemutande CEO, Never Ncube says,

    This project enables us to extend our services to the towns and cities along the backhaul fibre route, where we previously had no presence, and aligns with our national expansion program, empowering the communities we serve.

    Some of you are wary on behalf of Dande

    Most, if not all of us welcome this investment. However, some fear that the future might be in satellite internet and sinking $8m in terrestrial networks does not make the most sense at the moment.

    I understand the sentiment and agree that there are merits to it. However, I think there is time to recoup that investment (especially if current pricing regimes stand) before the satellites take over.

    While the satellites won’t replace the likes of Econet for a while, it can be argued that fixed internet providers are most at risk because their clients can afford Starlink kits and would switch. However, Dande can and will provide service to other internet service providers better than Starlink could. That’s business somewhat safe from the satellites.

    Anyway, do let us know what you think about all this.

    Also read:

  • Dandemutande’s $8 million investment in fibre network a welcome development

    Dandemutande’s $8 million investment in fibre network a welcome development

    The groundwork for providing affordable internet access in Zimbabwe is still being established. A critical piece of infrastructure in that battle is the fibre network.

    Yes, I know right now most people are mesmerised by satellite internet, Starlink in particular. There is a place for those technologies going forward and I’m all for licensing them, even the Chinese options. However, we can’t get away from wired internet.

    For all the advancements we have seen and will see in wireless technology, it will never beat the reliability one gets from a physical connection.

    I know, in Zimbabwe’s case, we have been taken back to the dark ages by an innocent farmer digging a little too deep and severing fibre optic cables. But still, wired will remain number one, we just need it to be more affordable.

    Dandemutande announced building a long-haul fibre optic backbone of 891km along the Beitbridge – Harare railway network. They partnered with Fiber Connections, a subsidiary of Bandwidth and Cloud Services Group (BCS Group) to jointly build the network.

    It will cost $8 million and that should tell you why the terrestrial network game is not crowded. It takes massive amounts of money to build fibre networks and you have to sympathise with these companies when the ZW$ makes it impossible to invest in their networks.

    The two organisations comment

    Never Ncube, CEO of Dandemutande said,

    We have made an investment of US$5 million for the backhaul and will invest about US$3 million in metro fibre in cities that the backhaul is passing through to modernize and upgrade our network thereby ensuring that the platform is future-ready to meet customer needs.

    This speaks volumes of our commitment to providing our customers with superior connectivity solutions throughout the country. We will split the project into two phases, the first phase being the 531km of optic fibre from Beitbridge-Somabhula-Bulawayo which was launched in December 2022 with the Victoria Falls leg and the second phase being the 360 km of optic fibre between Somabhula and Harare.

    The second phase was supposed to be completed by the end of February.

    Yonas Maru, BCS Group Managing Director gave a few details on how the partnership is structured,

    BCS Group and Dandemutande mutually funded CAPEX for fibre construction and each party owns a percentage of the fibre cores and shares in proportion of the cost of fibre maintenance.

    Together, this project provides the infrastructure necessary for Zimbabwe to build digital services. It creates the needle that stitches our continent together, as fiber links are laid across countries and our people engage in trade, commerce, and play without regard to the borders created by colonial powers. The various projects BCS Group is doing take us out of poverty while making Zimbabwe a true hub.

    They hope this new fibre link will “significantly reduce Internet access costs, increase reliability and bring high-speed Internet access to the rural areas of Zimbabwe.”

    Doesn’t that sound like the hope many people have thrust on Starlink’s shoulders? So, I guess we need reminding that terrestrial connectivity can still be competitive.

    In some countries, Starlink is not cheaper than fixed internet and that’s where Zimbabwe needs to be. Investments like these by Dandemutande will go a long way in helping us get there.

    You may recall that Dark Fibre Africa completed laying over 2000km of their own fibre network last year. All welcome developments.

    For context, Liquid had surpassed 20,000km in Zimbabwe back in 2020 and they reached 100,000km in the whole of Africa in 2021.

    Also read:

  • Tecno unveils Dynamic 1, a robot dog powered by AI

    Tecno unveils Dynamic 1, a robot dog powered by AI

    Now this bodes well for us, Tecno is hard at work researching and developing artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. Tecno, along with its sisters Infinix and especially Itel, are popular in Zimbabwe and most of Africa too.

    See, at this point it cannot be disputed that AI is going to play a major role in the world going forward. The Samsung Galaxy S24 series gave us a glimpse of what AI in smartphones could look like. So, it is refreshing to see Tecno taking AI seriously.

    At the ongoing Mobile World Congress, Tecno unveiled the Dynamic 1, a robot dog that mimics real dogs.

    This AI-powered dog can move like a real dog, climb stairs, bow and even shake hands. Tecno says it was inspired by the German Shepherd. However, the robodog can only sprint at 13.4 km/hr whilst the real Shepherd can hit speeds of up to 48.3 km/hr.

    Powering the dog is an unspecified Arm CPU and AI facilitates its processing.

    You can interact with the robodog using voice commands or an app. You tell it to bow and it bows, unlike your untrained hard-Mashona Danger.

    The Dynamic 1 has four microphones to ensure it hears your commands and it also has Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity to allow for commands via the app.

    The robodog processes your voice commands using an ‘advanced AI-powered voice recognition system.’ That’s all we know about the AI in this thing at the moment.

    For navigation, the robodog relies on a boatload of sensors and cameras. It even has a headlight so it can still entertain you in low-light conditions.

    You can play around with the Dynamic 1 for about 90 minutes until you need to charge its 15000mAh battery. Tecno allows you to swap out the battery and insert a fully charged one, so you don’t have to wait while it charges.

    Tecno did not say if the robodog will ever go on sale or whether it’s just a test device they can hone their AI and robotics skills on.

    Whatever the case, it’s exciting to see the Dynamic 1. One hopes whatever they learnt developing this product will trickle down to the Tecno smartphones we love in these parts of the world.

    I hope the robodog goes on sale though, imagine having these bad boys patrol your premises. I would find a way to add spikes and razors to its body and no robber would dare jump my wall.

    Also read:

  • Malawi unable to print passports, as hackers take over immigration system. Or not!

    Malawi unable to print passports, as hackers take over immigration system. Or not!

    President Lazarus Chakwera said this week that Malawi’s immigration system, used for passport printing, was hacked and remains under hacker control. Consequently, the country is unable to issue passports to its citizens.

    President Chakwera, in a statement to parliament, confirmed the hacking but did not disclose the hackers’ identity. He added that they are demanding a ransom in exchange for relinquishing control of the system. The ransom amount remains unclear.

    Reports from Malawian publications suggest the hacking occurred in mid-January, but no official confirmation surfaced until now.

    President Chakwera declared the government’s refusal to pay the ransom:

    “As long as I am President, I will not allow the government to pay such an amount.”

    According to a Times article from early February, the system was built by a Kenyan company called Techno Brain. A government official however is quoted in the article stating that Techno Brain is no longer involved in the system’s daily operations as they handed over complete control to the Malawian government.

    But things may not be as they seem. Another investigative report from earlier this week suggests that Techno Brain itself could have locked the government out of the system. The reason being that government attempted to “hack” the system to bypass software licensing requirements.

    Nyasa Times, a prominent news organization, claimed in a report that sources told it of government’s attempt to circumvent Techno Brain’s licensing features:

    “They wanted to save costs and implement the promised 14,000-passport price during the 2020 presidential election, but it backfired,” the source said.

    Whatever the reason, the president has since instructed the Immigration Department to come up with a workaround within three weeks so Malawians can start getting their passports again.

    Image: africanews.com

  • Starlink deactivates 350-400 accounts in South Africa. Should Zim users be worried?

    Starlink deactivates 350-400 accounts in South Africa. Should Zim users be worried?

    Some massive bad news is coming out of the south of Limpopo relating to Starlink. According to My Broadband, some 350 to 400 Starlink accounts have been switched off by Starlink themselves. These accounts are those that were being managed by StarSat South Africa, a telecommunications equipment reseller and satellite television provider. Starlink states that StarSat advertising and selling kits violated their terms of use. They are not recognized by Starlink as a licensed distributor of their services as a company. Moreover, Starlink has not yet been licensed in South Africa

    This brings us to my teapot-shaped country Zimbabwe. What does this mean for the Starlink kits in this country? After all, POTRAZ has not given Starlink an operator license yet and they recently launched a manhunt to arrest anyone importing the kits or using the service.

    Will Kits in Zim be switched off too?

    First, let’s cook on the SA story. There are several suppliers importing kits into South Africa. Outside of StarSat, there are companies like ICASAsePUSH doing the most hilarious job of avoiding the Starlink copyright strike. Let’s just call it Sparkling because that’s less obvious. Right? RIGHT?

    It is necessary because they do not have a license from Starlink to be a reseller of their service or to offer management services to their customers. Starlink prefers customers paying subscriptions directly to them rather than through a 3rd party reseller. Their terms of service only allow for a 3rd party reseller to import the kit on a customer’s behalf and offer support for the customer. StarSat was accepting subscriptions from customers on a managed service basis. An issue on 2 fronts.

    1. Starlink is not officially live in SA meaning there is no pricing for the service. So whatever subscription StarSat is charging its customers might be lower than what Starlink would charge for the region meaning revenue loss for the business, or more than the projected pricing which could damage the brand in that region.
    2. It makes it look like Starlink is defying the regulator allowing such a big entity to push the service regardless of it not being licenced. This could throw spanners in the works for Starlink’s negotiations to get an operator license.

    Bringing it to Zim, our land is the grey market Wild West. These kits are coming in in their hundreds but there isn’t really a StarSat nor is there a sneaky ICASAsePUSH with a whole website selling Starlink products. It’s hundreds of individuals bringing them in on a referral ‘if you know you know‘ basis. The kits are also coming from anywhere so tracking the source of origin is pretty much an Alice in Wonderland affair, which could work to Zim’s advantage and any other country where the service is facing some regulatory speed humps.

    Starlink cannot just pull the plug on all the kits in countries where their service is not yet approved. That’s because part of their service offering is the roaming service. For you to use Starlink you need to set it up in a country where the service is approved and is live. Then after setting it up, you jump into your account settings and choose the roaming service. This is what will allow you to move with your kit anywhere, even to a country where the service is not approved, and still use it.

    So if Starlink were to loadshed every kit in Zim and SA, all the individuals and businesses who are using the roaming feature legitimately will be catching strays. Highly unlikely that they will do that one. The StarSat element happened because it’s a big company that most likely was sourcing the kits from the same supplier and managing the accounts of their customers. Too big for Starlink not to do something about.

    And the roaming?

    Officially, Starlink’s roaming service allows for a 60-day access period. When the 60 days are up, access is disabled and to enable it you will need to return to the country where it was activated so the roaming resets.

    From the grapevine, Starlink has been fast and loose in enforcing that. As a result, there has not been any kit gymnastics happening to get that roaming window reset. But for how long will the leniency last? Makes it pretty uncertain given the shocker that Starlink pulled in SA.

    Sometime last year, Paratus Group in Zambia was awarded the license by Starlink to resell kits in all African regions, and in Zimbabwe Dandemutande also announced that it is also partnering with Starlink to bring in Kits into Zimbabwe.

    There is a catch. Official distributors like Paratus Group are only selling business package kits which are more expensive than residential kits.

    Also, it’s nice that these guys are licensed by Starlink but that does not exempt them from the wrath of the national regulator.

    So what we are saying is…

    • Starlink deactivated some 400 customer accounts managed by StarSat.
    • All other accounts are still working.
    • It is highly unlikely Zim Accounts will be affected in the same way.
    • ICASA and POTRAZ are still on the hunt for Starlink users.

    Also Read:

  • Developer who stole $24m from HIT appears in court (it wasn’t a hack)

    Developer who stole $24m from HIT appears in court (it wasn’t a hack)

    The Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) was robbed by one of its developers, allegedly. About ZW$24 million (~US$2000) was pinched but HIT has recovered $21 million of it so far. These are not huge amounts but theft is theft.

    You may have heard that HIT was hacked but that’s not technically what happened. I know, people hear ‘developer’ and they immediately think ‘hacking.’ However, you will find that what this guy allegedly did could have been done by a non-developer.

    Arnold Chifamba, a 26-year-old developer, was employed by HIT. It was his responsiblity to integrate HIT’s online application system with Paynow to enable the collection of registration fees.

    Due to his access to the system, he decided to change the account where the funds were to be deposited. Instead of using HIT’s account, he changed it to his own Paynow account. This led to HIT funds going into his personal Paynow account.

    He did this in 2023 and managed to divert ZW$3 302 564. He then moved the funds from his Paynow account to his CBZ account and that money was in the wind.

    2023 was apparently a trial run because this year he stepped it up a notch and diverted ZW$21 217 069,61. Turns out that was a little too much and HIT noticed the missing funds and contacted Paynow.

    Chifamba tried to move the funds to his CBZ account again but the funds were frozen after HIT reached out to Paynow. That’s how the $21 million was recovered. The $3 million stolen last year is still to be recovered.

    HIT reported the matter to the police and Chifamba was arrested.

    Chifamba appeared in court yesterday, the 8th of February, charged with theft. He was granted US$100 bail and will return to court on the 16th of April.

    Supervision

    Chifamba did not unlawfully gain access to the HIT system. He was the chief developer working on the Paynow integration and so he had access. He misused this access and changed account numbers. Simple theft.

    It was a case of “mbudzi yaidya payakusungirirwa” getting caught.

    You would expect that there were other eyes that went over Chifamba’s work. Especially when it involved accounts that would hold HIT funds. You know, at least to check that there were no typos on the account numbers.

    Or maybe not, it could be that this simple detail was overlooked, that although Chifamba could make all sorts of communications with Paynow as he worked on the integration, there were certain instructions he could not give Paynow without authorisation.

    I think in between queries about API problems and test accounts, Chifamba snuck in his change of account note.

    We saw this to a much greater extent when we talked about the deepfake scam that netted criminals US$26m in Hong Kong. An employee had authority to transfer that much money with no oversight.

    So, in closing, HIT systems were not hacked. An employee stole from them by changing the organisation’s Paynow account to his. Something some other guy in accounting could have done. They also could have given the developers the wrong account to integrate with.

    Let’s be frank though, this was a stupid idea. The Bibles worth of paper trails he left meant it was only a matter of time until he was caught.

    Also read:

  • WiFi networks that span over 3km are on the way, that’s cell tower kind of range that

    WiFi networks that span over 3km are on the way, that’s cell tower kind of range that

    It is ridiculous that in 2024, most Zimbabweans still don’t connect to any WiFi network any time of the day. In more developed countries, it’s WiFi connection after WiFi connection in urban areas, with most of them free too.

    Why don’t most Zimbabwean restaurants offer free WiFi? – for example. It’s too expensive, the demand is too great such that it would be bogged down by free loaders, etc. There are so many reasons.

    Well, we will have to wait for a fix for some of those problems but for now, we can look at some promising developments in WiFi tech.

    Long range WiFi is coming. There’s a company called Morse Micro that has been experimenting with a new WiFi standard that allows for long range WiFi – the 900MHz Wi-Fi HaLow standard.

    Morse Micro released a video demonstrating just how impressive this WiFi is. They were able to get a usable wireless signal at a 3km range. My friend, you should know that 4G cell towers have a range of 3 to 6.5km.

    So, this WiFi standard allows for WiFi at comparable ranges to good old mobile networks.

    That is wild to consider, if I could connect to a WiFi network 3km away, I could stay connected to my home WiFi even at my local shopping complex. Or my church, or some other places I frequent. That is ridiculous.

    Before you get your hopes up, while they demonstrated that you can get a usable signal at 3km, the limitations of WiFi still hold. It will not compete with mobile networks when it comes to number of people served by a single router.

    If you’re working with a home WiFi network which is certified for less than 10 users, you won’t be opening an internet cafe serving people in a 3km radius with the HaLow standard.

    The speeds that HaLow can manage are impressive. Morse Micro carried out a video call at various distance intervals, measuring the average speed as they went. They were able to get 1Mbps at 3km.

    The announced data rates of the HaLow standard were between 150 kbps and 78 Mbps.

    My friend, most times we don’t get that from our mobile networks. However, do not expect that your TelOne ADSL connection which can’t muster up 1Mbps even when you’re sat right next to the router will magically deliver 1Mbps to you when you’re 3km away from home.

    Morse Micro’s test was carried out on a stretch of an empty beach but the beachfront had many buildings which interfered with the signal. So, they say it was a good demonstration of what we can expect in the real world.

    I know that entrepreneurs among us are already brainstorming ways to use the 3km range. Maybe you could share a WiFi connection with your neighbours, pool funds and get an unlimited connection serving the houses in your Close.

    There’s more that can be done with a 3km range. Let’s hope the standard is finalised and is released soon.

    Also read:

  • Ride-hailing apps now cheaper than combis and mshikashika in these scenarios, revolution on the way?

    Ride-hailing apps now cheaper than combis and mshikashika in these scenarios, revolution on the way?

    I am not going to spoil your day by talking about ZUPCO, the government’s public transportation solution. It used to be great, or so I’m told, now it sucks and likely will for the foreseeable future.

    We don’t rely on it, we rely on private players with their beat up minibuses to move people to and fro. Lately, we’ve even accepted private players in beat up Honda Fits and Toyota FunCargos onto our streets. So it’s combis and mshikashika for the masses. Let’s call them combishikas.

    We only tolerate the dangerously underserviced vehicles, rude drivers and rank marshals and the terrible sitting arrangements because they are cheap.

    For the longest time, you only needed 50c for trips from town to most neighbourhoods. Yes, they would increase their prices during peak hours sometimes or when it rains (surge pricing, I guess) but for the most part, $1 could get you to town and back.

    These days though, it’s now $1 per trip in the vast majority of neighbourhoods. That changes things. We need to look at this some more and see if the other transport options on the market make more sense now.

    Ride-hailing

    Yesterday we talked about how Bolt, a new ride-hailing platform, is on an aggressive push right now and is undercutting the competition. Could it or the other taxis be offering a better deal these days?

    Let’s get this out of the way, most people are going to choose the cheaper option, convenience be damned. It’s simply because we actually earn very little in this country and we do not have the funds to splurge on rides.

    So, I would argue that for ride-hailing to disrupt the combishikas, it would have to be cheaper.

    I checked how much it would cost to go from town (Road Port) to Mt Pleasant (UZ) and the cheapest ride was on Bolt for $4. If one used combishikas, that would cost only $1, that’s 75% cheaper.

    99% of people, unless it’s late or they have precious cargo are not going to pay a premium of $3. Then there is the data needed to use the ride-hailing apps too, making the ride-hailing option even more expensive.

    The following scenarios makes it interesting though:

    Going to a different neighbourhood

    For most people, you will find that you have to go through town to get to other neighbourhoods. Which is particularly annoying when you have to go to a neighbourhood that is really close to yours by car but a little too far to walk.

    If you live in Emerald Hill (by Gateway Primary there) and you want to go to Mt Pleasant (UZ) you would have to go via town and pay $2 using combishikas. The same trip would cost exactly the same using Bolt – $2.

    Emerald Hill is right next to Mt Pleasant but the distance from Gateway Primary to UZ is a little too long to traverse by foot. No combishika connects the two neighbourhoods though and so you would be forced to waste time going via town.

    So in this particular case, Bolt costs the same as combishikas, is much more convenient and comfortable as you’re picked up at your gate and dropped off exactly where you’re going, you don’t have to deal with rudeness and you save a lot of time on top of it all.

    Who in their right mind would choose combishikas in such a case? Only those that are not aware that ride-hailing is slowly becoming affordable.

    Multiple passengers

    It gets even more interesting when you are not travelling alone. Ride-hailing apps will take up to four people.

    If you’re going from town to UZ with three of your friends, it costs $4 using either ride-hailing or combishikas. Why would you choose combishikas?

    Now imagine if there are multiple people connecting neighbourhoods. Ride-hailing becomes much cheaper.

    Let’s use the Emerald Hill-UZ example again. If there are four of you, it would cost $2 using Bolt whilst it would cost $8 using combishikas.

    So, ride-hailing comes out 75% cheaper whilst being the more convenient option. It’s a no-brainer. So, you can buy a data bundle for $1 to use to hail the ride and it would still be cheaper.

    Combis’ days numbered?

    It would appear so. Whilst combishikas are still cheaper for some trips, there are some scenarios where ride-hailing is cheaper.

    There is a huge caveat though, Bolt is offering these low prices to gain marketshare and is likely to raise prices in the future.

    I checked and for the Emerald Hill-UZ trip, Hwindi is charging $3.52 and inDrive is charging $4, although you can negotiate that down to $3.

    So, if those are the fair prices we can expect in the long term then ride-hailing is more expensive when you’re travelling alone. However, it looks like when you’re a group, ride-hailing still wins.

    It would cost 4 people $4 to go from Emerald Hill to UZ using inDrive whilst it would cost $8 using combishikas.

    So, while I wouldn’t say combishikas’ days are numbered, ride-hailing apps have an opportunity to chip into their bread and butter.

    Please spread this message to those that love going out to drink and then driving home drunk too. There are so many ride-hailing options, in Harare at least, and they are quite affordable when you’re a group.

    In fact, let us all try to travel in groups whenever possible. We can’t all drive everywhere, traffic is becoming a nightmare in Harare. Let’s carpool, rideshare, take public transport and the like and free up the roads whilst saving the environment and our lungs at the same time.

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  • Zimbabwe, South Africa both threaten Starlink importers and confiscate kits

    Zimbabwe, South Africa both threaten Starlink importers and confiscate kits

    Here is how I see the situation – some people elected a few people from among them, stewards of some sort, to look after their interests. However, just like the family with a guard dog whose duty it is to safeguard the family’s assets, the dog will sometimes take it too far.

    If you’ve ever owned a dog, you know that sometimes you have to wrestle the thing as it tries to bite your guests. You’re like, “It’s okay Danger, he’s not a threat,” but Danger still tries to rip your guest’s calf off.

    I feel like the same is happening with the people of Zimbabwe and their government when it comes to Starlink. We’re like “It’s okay Govy, we want this guest,” but the govt is is still trying to rip Starlink’s calves off.

    “It’s not allowed to sell or use Starlink in Zimbabwe and police will be mounting raids and arrests soon,” said a Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) official. That’s Govy barking up a storm.

    Although the official said “soon” the raids are apparently already underway. We have heard a few reports of Starlink kits being confiscated.

    If you asked the government, this is all for our good. They are protecting us from a threat, they are ensuring Zimbabwe is not fleeced by Elon Musk.

    Stickler for the laws

    After all, Starlink has not complied with the country’s laws and so cannot be allowed to operate and jeopardise the operations of internet service providers that paid their millions to the government and allow for legal intercepts etc. We shall look into this fully sometime soon.

    We kind of understand all that but what’s painfully in our conscious minds is that we are paying arms and legs for internet access and Starlink could help lower prices for some. It’s as simple as that and so we’re not trying to hear all this “They gotta play by our rules” talk.

    The same story down south

    In South Africa, Elon Musk’s birth country, Starlink is yet to be licensed. Starlink has high hopes it will be operational in the country soon but many wonder if that’s misplaced confidence.

    The South African govy is barking up a storm about how Starlink has to play by their rules. Exactly like how the Zim govy is jawing.

    Many believe the major roadblock in South Africa is the need for Starlink to give up 30% shareholding of their local operations to Black Economic Empowerment groups. ICASA, their regulator confirmed that that indeed is the case.

    My South African friends, we feel for you. We have had many qualms with our govt about its policies, including the ones keeping Starlink from officially operating here.

    However, we thank God that we no longer require that foreign companies give up shareholding to locals. That had a devastating negative impact on our ability to attract investment.

    I hope your government understands this soon. Otherwise, you will wake up to find that your northern neighbor has become a better investment destination, just like what happened to us.

    Rebellious populace

    Anyway, just like in Zimbabwe, the South Africans are illegally importing Starlink kits. The service is just that compelling for many that they are willing to go down this route. Of course, the govts won’t have this.

    Potraz in Zimbabwe is following in ICASA’s footsteps. ICASA threatened those that were (are) importing Starlink kits.

    Now in South Africa, some of these importers were registered ISPs and they were threatened with loss of broadband access, confiscation of equipment and possible criminal charges. Sound familiar?

    Check out this quote from a small business owner from Inyoni Village outside the South African city of Nelspruit who was importing Starlink kits,

    I was warned…that telecoms inspectors will visit all provincial businesses that provide Starlink services without registration. Something about fines and charges was mentioned in the call for anyone violating telecom laws

    For the people or the party?

    If you asked, I still think most people have no idea what Starlink is but of the few that know about it, the vast majority supports the service coming to Zimbabwe. Some believe it will flip the internet service provision subsector on its head but some think it will only be a good-to-have option.

    That doesn’t matter because Starlink is not licensed to operate in Zimbabwe.

    The only solid bit of information we have about the service coming to Zimbabwe comes from Dandemutande (an ISP) announcing that they will be partnering to bring the service this year. They have been coy with details of this partnership though.

    We are left asking, are the Zimbabwean and South African governments doing this for the people they represent?

    In both countries, ordinary people believe Starlink is an affordable and reliable alternative. Now, if the South Africans are claiming that, imagine how much more true it is in Zimbabwe.

    I heard some South Africans say their internet service providers are too expensive and unreliable due to record power blackouts and inadequacy of infrastructure in rural areas. Tell me that doesn’t sound like every single Zimbabwean.

    So, the families are saying give us Starlink but the dogs are saying that particular guest should not be welcome. Well, in these cases, the dogs are massive and aggressive Pitbulls and the families have to sneak the guest in through the back as the dog stands guard at the gate.

    Are we asking for too much?

    Are we asking the governments to make exceptions and allow Starlink to operate? If so, are we sure we are prepared to allow our govts to pick and choose when to set aside the law of the land?

    If you reprimand your dog every time it scares what it thinks is an intruder off, it’s only a matter of time before it allows every Tom just waltz in.

    You could argue that they do this already so at the very least we get something we want this time around. You could also argue that the goal of improving connectivity in our countries necessitates this favouritism.

    These kinds of conversations are happening both here and in South Africa. We shall see where the chips fall in due time, I guess.

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  • When govts give out free SIM cards, you know the potential for tracking and surveillance is huge

    When govts give out free SIM cards, you know the potential for tracking and surveillance is huge

    Some of us are old enough to remember when SIM cards were out of the reach of many people. I’ve heard stories of people selling their cattle to buy SIM cards and that is not an exaggeration, we really did buy cards for over $300 at one point.

    Some of us are still bitter about that because we understand that it was a lack of competition that led to that. We had just 3 mobile network operators (MNOs) and as demand rose they realised we had no other vendor to look to. So they charged whatever they wanted and we paid, we murmured, but we paid.

    “Those greedy bastards,” we were taught to think as kids. However, looking back, it was a little more complicated than that, kind of like the whole #DataMustFall debate today. There was a greed element to it, of course, but there were also some legit reasons.

    Zimbabwe had started on its journey to total mayhem in the hyperinflation era and foreign currency was scarce, kind of like today. So, as the cost of producing and importing SIM cards remained stable in foreign currency, mobile network operators had to hike prices.

    Of course, what they charged was excessive for what they were making up for, in my opinion. However, they did struggle to acquire foreign currency needed to import the cards, leading to limited availability. With high demand and low supply, they took full advantage.

    The storm passed

    Anyway, today the SIM card is no longer a status symbol. Sometimes prices can rise to $5 when supply chains are disrupted but for the most part you can get one for $1.

    At one point, the $1 SIM card came with $1 airtime and so it was actually free. The MNOs had realised they stood to make more from repeat business than from the sale of SIM cards.

    One hopes the same will happen to data prices soon. It’s just a matter of time until we are paying $15 for unlimited mobile data plans. At least I prophecy so.

    The SIM card and your personal information

    When SIM card prices fell, purchasing one was easier than purchasing tomatoes from the table by the corner in your neighbourhood.

    Of course, you had to give out some of your personal information, you know; name, address, height, blood type and mother’s maiden name but for $1 a pop, we were not complaining.

    However, the mobile network operators were not really collecting that information. You could approach a dude by the MNOs store’s door, get a SIM and ask him to submit the information on your behalf.

    As a result, some of these application forms got to the MNO with mistakes and some had fake names altogether. How could they not? – the vendor in the street couldn’t care less what you wrote down, as long as you paid cash.

    Recently, the regulator has been on the MNOs’ case to make sure they collect the information, including copies of national IDs and proofs of residence. Some people report getting lines without providing some of that but that shouldn’t be the case.

    The SIM card and the government

    Why does the government want this information collected? Well, let’s turn to Afghanistan to paint the picture. Let me land.

    When the Taliban returned to power in 2021, some Afghanis understandably fled the country, many to neighbouring Pakistan. Kind of like Zimbabweans flocking to South Africa.

    Now, Pakistan has had about enough of these refugees and is kicking then back from whence they came. Kind of like how the South Africans feel about Zimbabweans.

    You can imagine the fear these Afghani refugees have when they are forced to trek back to their Taliban run country. However, they have been surprised to find care packages waiting for them as they reenter the country.

    Their government prepared food, tents, and free SIM cards for them. Curious, isn’t it? Food, shelter and a SIM card. A family can get up to 4 free SIM cards and even women and girls, who are kind of like second class citizens there can get those SIM cards.

    The Taliban stripped away their rights to even drive but feels they should get SIM cards which will expose them to the internet. What gives?

    This could be a sign of even the Taliban understanding that the digital revolution cannot be stopped and that economies stand to prosper when the population has access to affordable and reliable communication.

    Nah, it’s not that.

    The SIM card and control

    When a government has access to information about SIM cards, it gains significant control over its citizens and their communication activities. I think it’s safe to assume the Taliban has access to the MNOs’ systems.

    Here are some of the things access to SIM data grants governments:

    Surveillance and Monitoring:

    • Tracking location and movement: Through base station (tower) data, the movement of individuals can be tracked in real-time. At any given time we can see where you are, roughly, by looking at where your SIM card is connecting from.
    • Interception of communications: By accessing call logs, text messages, and even internet traffic, governments can intercept and monitor communication. Which would be useful when some youths plan an uprising.
    • Identifying individuals: SIM card registration data, including names, addresses, and identification numbers, can be used to identify individuals both online and offline, facilitating surveillance and targeted interventions.

    No wonder governments love promoting the use of mobile phones. Who can find fault in them promoting communication, information access, and individual empowerment? – as they would put it.

    Makes you look at the Zimbabwean government’s celebration of our mobile penetration rate (97.5%) in a different way, doesn’t it?

    It doesn’t even end there. Again, the level of control varies depending on the specific policies and regulations in place. However, the following is also possible all from the humble SIM card.

    Censorship and propaganda

    Governments can utilise targeted marketing and advertising through SIM card data to influence public opinion. It’s becoming a staple in Zimbabwe, where every election cycle we are bombarded with SMSs from the ruling party. We have talked about this countless times.

    They can also engage in social control by analyzing communication patterns to build detailed profiles of individuals. They can use those profiles when making decisions on services, employment, and travel. You might find that your town or neighbourhood is skipped when free T-shirts are disbursed. Pane maT-Shirts atichakupai and I never got one.

    Governments can also disrupt communication networks, including mobile phone services and internet access, during protests or periods of unrest, silencing dissent and hindering the flow of information.

    Last year, one opposition party tried to build an independent communication system that the government could not control. All to make sure they could send information from all corners of the country without inopportune network slowdowns disrupting their work.

    I don’t think the parallel vote tabulation system worked as intended in the end but it was only conceived because of the threat of the government disrupting communication networks.

    The humble SIM card

    We may not look twice at the humble SIM card but it is a valuable little thing. For the MNOs it presents a customer they can extract value from for years to come and for the government it’s worth much more than money.

    You cannot fight this, you have give out your personal details to play. Now you can do so knowing just what you’re giving up and weigh that against the access the SIM card gives you.

    Or maybe when you got your SIM card, the MNOs and the government were still lax about the whole personal information collection thing. In which case, don’t lose that card.

    Anyways, these are just the ramblings of a tin-foil-hat-wearing fella, so don’t take it too seriously. After all, some countries have policies and laws to ensure the government does not abuse its access to SIM card data.

    I’m sure Zimbabwe is one of those countries, notwithstanding the unsolicited Zanu PF messages that are sent to the general population every election cycle.

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  • Min of ICT says the landlocked status of Zim cause of high data costs, Zambia says ‘what?’

    Min of ICT says the landlocked status of Zim cause of high data costs, Zambia says ‘what?’

    Zambia is an interesting country, mostly because we share a very similar history. What’s even more interesting is that we also share strikingly similar geography and demographics.

    Zimbabwe does have more natural resources, to our shame. However, there is no other country for which comparisons make the most sense. This has proved to be inconvenient for those who would use our circumstances as an excuse.

    Today we focus on the one excuse we have heard over and over – internet access is expensive in Zimbabwe because the country is landlocked.

    As recently as December 2023, our ICT Minister Tatenda Mavetera gave us the same old,

    I know a lot of times people have been asking me…, ‘where are we in making sure our data becomes cheaper?’ …

    … and that is exactly our thrust … so that we have the cheapest data in Africa or the world but here we are, Zimbabwe is a landlocked country.

    Because Zimbabwe is a landlocked country, you’ll realise that there is no data that we get cheap…

    Is it an excuse?

    The excuse works because on some level it is true. We are landlocked and that undoubtedly affects our internet prices. How?

    We will not assume people understand why being landlocked leads to higher internet prices. So, in short, although we mostly use the internet wirelessly, the stuff we consume is transported via cables.

    It is usually just the last step from your router or the base station in your neighbourhood to your phone that is transmitted wirelessly.

    So, if you want to view a webpage that is hosted on a computer in the United States, that data travels via wires. Including some cables deep under the sea that connect continents. It’s wires up to your base station and then the data hops the last few metres to your phone wirelessly.

    This is where being landlocked is a negative:

    Limited infrastructure: The absence of direct access to undersea cables results in higher costs for laying and maintaining the cables that transport data (terrestrial infrastructure). In some cases, this country hopping can lead to significantly higher latency (lower response).

    Reliance on neighbouring countries: We depend on neighbouring countries for internet transit. This reliance on transit agreements with other nations contributes to increased costs, as these agreements involve fees and additional logistical challenges.

    So, the landlocked excuse is not an excuse but a reality. However, this is where Zambia throws a spanner into the works.

    Zambia is just as landlocked as Zimbabwe. So, whatever applies here, applies there as well. Yet, the landlocked excuse is not used up north as much as it is here.

    Internet prices – Zim v Zam

    In both countries, fibre internet is still a rich man’s game. Only a minority connects to the internet via fibre. However, let’s still compare the prices.

    Fibre is a good one to compare because not only are these both landlocked countries as we discussed, we also have a carrier operating in both countries – Liquid Intelligent Technologies.

    Here is what Liquid charges for the cheapest unlimited package in both countries:

    • Fibre Home Lite 5 @5Mbps (Zambia) – K600 (US$23.13)
    • FibroniX Family Entertainment @100Mbps (Zimbabwe) – Z$2,059,420 (from US$189 to US$317)
    • Please feel free to click on the Orange text and that will take you to Liquid’s product pages where you can verify the prices I quoted

    Note: the Zimbabwean package boasts much higher speeds, however, 99% of the population would switch to a cheaper package at lower speeds if such an option was available. Heck, until late 2023, Liquid topped its capped packages at 10Mbps because they said people didn’t really need or utilise higher speeds. So, it’s a mystery why there is no $23-5Mbps package in Zim.

    Also note: the Zimbabwean package has a range of prices because of the currency situation. The $189 figure comes from using the most generous black market rate of 1:10900 whilst the $317 comes from using the official rate.

    Having said all that, you can see just how much more expensive it is in Zimbabwe. The $23 that gets you unlimited data in Zambia is only good for 40GB in Zimbabwe. It’s probably because Zimbabwe is landlocked, I’m sure.

    We won’t even look at capped packages because there are none in Zambia. I mean, when the cheapest unlimited one is $23, there really isn’t need for a cheaper fibre package.

    The other competition

    Here is what some of the competition in both countries charge for their cheapest uncapped fibre, ADSL and 5G packages:

    • TelOne (Zimbabwe) – Intense @20Mbps – Z$2018750 (US$185 to US$311 – pretty much the same as Liquid Zimbabwe)
    • Zamtel (Zambia) – Unlimited FTTX Fibre @5Mbps – K649 (US$25.02)
    • Zamtel (Zambia) – Unlimited ADSL @1Mbps – K990 (US$38.16)
    • Telco (Zimbabwe) – no unlimited option listed on their site. The 100GB package @ 5Mbps costs US$126.50
    • Utande (Zimbabwe) – Business Standard @15Mbps – US$145
    • MTN (Zambia) – 5G Uncapped – K999 (US$38.51)

    In all these, the Zimbabwean internet providers are much more expensive. I guess it’s the landlocked thing again.

    What of mobile?

    This article is getting too long and the mobile story is even longer and so let’s leave that for next time.

    When we tackle mobile data prices we will consider usage habits. We know that many Zimbos only purchase social media bundles and the daily and weekly ones at that. We will look at all those and compare that to what the landlocked Zambians get.

    Landlocked as an excuse

    In all this, our data prices in Zimbabwe are affected by our landlocked status but that’s just one small piece to the puzzle of expensive data. We do know that some landlocked countries have agreements with neighbouring coastal countries for direct cable landings.

    Instead of throwing around excuses, shouldn’t the Ministry of ICT’s main agenda include striking deals like that with Mozambique and South Africa that lead to much lower costs for our ISPs?

    That said, many in this sector will tell you that the main reason for high broadband prices in Zimbabwe is that there isn’t much competition in the terrestrial fibre space.

    The major players who have the cables that bring the internet to Zimbabwe from the sea are Liquid and TelOne and their charging practices leave a lot to be desired.

    So, sometimes we hurl insults at Econet, NetOne and Telecel when Liquid and TelOne deserve most of the blame.

    We are not oblivious to the fact that their fibre networks cost money to install but it costs Liquid just as much to lay fibre in Zambia as it does in Zimbabwe. So, why do they charge so much more here?

    That’s what we need to look at because as much as I’m convinced that they are overcharging, I also cannot dispute that there are some unique features of their Zimbabwean operations that lead to the vast differences.

    We shall have to look into this in detail too.

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  • Starlink coming to Zimbabwe through Dandemutande partnership? Is the wait over folks?

    Starlink coming to Zimbabwe through Dandemutande partnership? Is the wait over folks?

    Dear friends, it appears Starlink will definitely be coming to Zimbabwe, one way or the other.

    We have been looking out for Starlink to be licensed to operate in the country, especially when we got to the Q4 2023 they had promised us they would be here. Former ICT Minister Muswere says Starlink submitted an application but the current Minister says they are yet to apply.

    We don’t know what to believe anymore. The good news is that it appears we won’t have to worry about that whole issue. Starlink will be officially and legally available in Zimbabwe even without a licence. How? – you ask, through partnerships of course.

    Here are the words of Dandemutande COO, Ignatius Mpando, as captured on video here,

    Starlink has launched disruptive technology like we indicated. And as a business I’m sure you also understand that we provide services through strategic partnerships with other players, ….. and it’s no different to Starlink.

    In fact, for the record, we have signed an agreement with Starlink to be able to resell their services in the country. So, in addition to what we currently extend to the market. In the event that someone prefers to be on the Starlink service, we will be able to extend that through that partnership.

    We have to note that the video could have been tampered with to make Mpando seem to be saying what he never said. Dandemutande has not communicated this news via official channels. However, the video looks legit and it supports what we had gathered before.

    The man says “For the record,” so it seems legit. We had gotten that information before but it was still on the hush-hush. They are now going live with the information, apparently.

    We have reached out to Dandemutande to get more information on the deal and what it will look like to us regular folk. We will update you once when we have more to share.

    I love that Dandemutande has secured this partnership but I sincerely hope it is not an exclusive deal. I hope other players are free to approach Starlink and come into the same kind of “reseller partnership.” That way, they would all have to add a nominal extra fee to both the kit price and the subscriptions.

    Let’s be honest, all most of you care about is how much will it cost. In Zambia for example it’s – $30 (ZW771) per month for subscriptions and $423 for the kit. If Dandemutande plays in that range then we would be golden.

    We’ll hash it all out when we have more information but for now, you need to cancel that Nyanga trip, return that Johnny Walker bottle and save up for Starlink. It’s finally coming, for real this time.

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  • Not just Starlink, it’s competitors knocking on Zim’s door. Govt says they are welcome

    Not just Starlink, it’s competitors knocking on Zim’s door. Govt says they are welcome

    Yesterday, Zimbabwe celebrated the African Telecommunications/ICT Day. The rest of Africa celebrated it on the 7th of December but better late than never, I guess.

    It is a commemoration of the establishment of the African Telecommunications Union. The union, a special arm of the African Union, exists to promote the development of telecommunications and ICT in Africa.

    The Postal and Telecommunications Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) made a day of it and invited us all to celebrate with them. The following were represented, RBZ, TOAZ, CCZ, and CEOs of players in the ICT sector were also present.

    Honourable Dr Tatenda Mavetera, the Minister of ICT, Postal and Courier Services, was the guest of honour. She didn’t speak for too long when she gave her keynote address but left us with a few things to ponder.

    Satellite space

    The Minister gave a short summary of a resolution that was adopted by the World Radiocommunication Conference that involved satellites and spectrum. Read on and you’ll understand. Said the Minister,

    I think you know traditionally, a lot of African countries were not very much privy to the satellite technology. To the extent that they would not even want to even to take any space because they were not very much exposed to it.

    So, most of the satellite space, the orbital space, was then taken by other countries who felt they very much needed it. So, in 2019, Africa then decided to say, yes, we really need our satellite space. We need to regain back our satellite space.

    So, … since 2019, every year, yes they were actually trying to make sure that at least we could regain back this satellite space.

    We are very happy to announce that 31 African countries managed to be allocated orbital space where they can be able to also be broadcasting or also … telecoms satellites.

    That’s one way to put it. Here is the full context of the resolution she was talking about:

    • The World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) of 2019 revised the Radio Regulations, which govern the use of radio spectrum globally.
    • Part of this revision involved deleting certain satellite frequency assignments [for the nerds, this was primarily in the C-band (3.4-4.2 GHz) and Ku-band (12-14 GHz) ranges.]
    • These deleted assignments were intended for fixed satellite services (FSS) and broadcast satellite services (BSS) but were deemed underutilised.

    A resolution was made and countries that wanted to, applied to be reassigned spectrum. This is why she said we have been trying to regain our “satellite space” since 2019. The resolution of 2019 had the following provisions:

    • Aimed to facilitate the transition for countries affected by the deleted assignments.
    • Provided a temporary special procedure for eligible countries to apply for new frequency assignments as replacements for the deleted ones.
    • Eligibility criteria for the special procedure included:
      • Having experienced significant degradation of national FSS and/or BSS assignments due to the deletions.
      • Demonstrating efforts to optimise existing spectrum use before requesting replacements.

    So, Minister Mavetera was saying 31 countries managed to be allocated spectrum or “satellite space” as she put it. That list of countries has been hard to come by and so we’re not sure if Zimbabwe is on it.

    However, there is a good chance that we are since we did successfully submit our technical papers.

    You saw this coming. All that talk about satellites could only lead to Starlink.

    A few months ago, the Director General of Potraz, talked about how Starlink could potentially interfere with our own fixed satellite projects. Said he,

    You may be aware of the Starlink Constellation, but there are numerous other Non-Geostationary (nGSO) satellite constellations that are planned or are being launched. Without careful coordination, our planned Geostationary Satellites could soon be rendered inoperable due to interference from the nGSO constellations.

    Do note: geostationary satellites stay in one place high above the Earth, while non-geostationary satellites move around as they orbit the planet, closer to the Earth than the Geostationary ones.

    Before you take up your pitchforks, this is not why Starlink has not been licensed to operate in Zimbabwe. They are not holding out so that they can preserve clear space for our planned Geostationary satellites.

    Our licensing of Starlink does not impact the number of their satellites that zip above our country.

    Then yesterday, the Minister of ICT talked about Starlink some more. This Starlink elephant is in every single room she walks in and she will have to talk about it until it is licensed or a decision is made and communicated that they won’t be licensing it.

    Said the Minister,

    Let me also highlight the issue which has been talked about – about satellite technology. Let me be honest with you, we have got many satellite technology … providers which are around the world. There are some which have approached us as a country.

    As a country, our President has said to us Zimbabwe is open for business, and what we need to do is … make sure that we engage and we make sure that we … provide accessible and cheap data as you so much want.

    To the extent that, even us being able to also get some satellite technology companies which would want to come and also adhere to our rules and regulations within Zimbabwe. Definitely that is very much applicable and we are very much working towards that.

    … I think you heard Honourable Mthuli also mentioning that, and also Honourable Mutsvangwa also mentioned the issue of other satellite providers which are also saying they also want to come and trade with Zimbabwe.

    So, on that one, that’s something that we are also working towards…

    Multiple suitors

    She is saying it’s not just Starlink that’s knocking on our doors. You may be forgiven for thinking Starlink is alone in the low-earth orbit satellite game.

    In South Africa, where Elon Musk grew up ironically, Starlink is yet to be licensed. However, a competitor called OneWeb by an organisation you might be familiar with – Eutelsat got the green light and will be launching soon.

    So, could Eutelsat be knocking on Zimbabwe’s doors too? It’s possible.

    Listen, we couldn’t care less if it’s Starlink or Eutelsat or the Chinese one that gets licensed in Zimbabwe. We just want one to get the ball rolling and achieve 100% internet coverage. Once achieved, we can focus on tackling device access and other pressing issues.

    Again, the Minister has been consistent in saying they welcome Starlink and its competitors. However, we are left wondering how welcome they are since none of them have been licensed. Is it a rules and regulations thing or are we being played?

    There was a chilling way that the Minister said “adhere to our rules and regulations”. We shall have that discussion some other time.

    The word is that the potential short-term decrease in tax revenue should Starlink be licensed is weighing heavily on the government. As well as some security concerns we somehow have but that’s a discussion for another day.

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  • DFA Zimbabwe donates ICT lab to orphanage, gives update on fibre-laying progress, comments on Starlink

    DFA Zimbabwe donates ICT lab to orphanage, gives update on fibre-laying progress, comments on Starlink

    In my opinion, there is no deed too small in our digital literacy and inclusion fight. So, when we heard that Dark Fibre Africa (Zimbabwe) had sponsored the transformation of a library into an ICT lab at a children’s home, we had to see what was what.

    The children’s home in question is the Village of Hope Children’s Home in Good Hope, Harare. I counted 10 computers and a projector and the furniture to use with that digital equipment. In addition, Dark Fibre Africa (DFA) Zimbabwe will provide internet access in perpetuity. Great stuff.

    47 children housed at the Home will benefit from the lab.

    This is not what DFA Zimbabwe is normally up to, as you may know. As the CEO, Simon Chimutsotso put it,

    This is a unique presence [at the Home], our business is to connect ICT companies but as adding to the corporate social responsibility, we literally came here because of the orphanage. We now have presence in this place but our first point of presence is to give to the disdvantaged.

    That’s him saying the main motivation for them was to give to the disadvantaged but now they do have a presence there.

    What is DFA usually up to and how are they doing? – you ask.

    While we had DFA Zimbabwe there, we managed to get some updates on what 2023 was like for them and what 2024 has in store.

    As the CEO said above, DFA is all about connecting ICT companies. They provide open-access fibre infrastructure and connectivity. In simpler English, they finance, build, install, manage, and maintain a fibre network to transmit metro and long-haul telecommunications traffic.

    Is this a Harare thing? Says the CEO,

    I am happy to report that in our three years of operation we’re pretty much in every town of Zimbabwe. We have connected over 1200 schools and clinics and the underserved areas through VSAT technologies. We are in Harare, we are in Bulawayo, we are in Mutare and we are finishing a project that will connect South Africa to Zambia via Zimbabwe. So, it’s a link that connects Beitbridge to Vic Falls, Harare to Bulawayo and therefore we are passing through all those countries [places] using fibre.

    So, how much fibre has DFA laid? Earlier this year we talked about DFA’s fibre-by-rail project that sought to lay 2000km of fibre. The project was completed and is now in the commercialisation stage according to the CEO. “So far we have done over 1400km of fibre on the ground,” he said.

    However, that’s just the fibre being laid from Beitbridge up adjacent to the railway tracks. In total, DFA has laid close to 2000km of fibre and is growing.

    Open access

    DFA’s major differentiator from the other major players in the fibre laying game – Liquid and Telone – is that they have an open-access model. This open-access model has come with its own benefits. There is infrastructure sharing in this industry, evidently. Says the CEO,

    We are very privileged our business model is open access network. Basically, what it means is we build fibre for use by other players in the industry. We have had the leverage of utilising existing fibre infrastructure on the ground. Open access does not mean we have to dig. Open access means we utilise what is available, if it can be shared and if it can be incapacitated to meet clients’ needs.

    So, I am very happy to say we have collaborated very well with current industry players. We are utilising other people’s infrastructure to enhance that open-access model.

    We have not had any challenges in terms of limitations [in infrastructure sharing] but I must say we are happy to be capacitating the country through our own fibre and through the use of existing fibre infrastructure in Zimbabwe.

    This means DFA has laid close to 2000km of their own fibre but are supplementing that with the use of fibre laid by other players. “If you look at what we are currently utilising, it’s way more than the 2000km because of collaborations in the industry,” the CEO added.

    All things being equal, all this should lead to lower costs in the future and therefore lower data prices in the country.

    On the topic of lower prices, the CEO also commented on Starlink potentially coming to Zimbabwe. As you know that would be competition for their fibre network and VSAT offering. He said,

    I believe heroes are born out of war. We welcome new players in the industry. Ultimately, it’s all about the end consumer. So, coming in of new players makes the environment more competitive. It means that the pricing that will arise from the market is that which will benefit the end consumer. So, we see the entrance of new players as an opportunity for collaboration.

    I got the sense that he meant that but even if he didn’t, that was a good response to the potential entrance of Starlink into the market. The end consumer (you and I) stand to benefit and if players like DFA seek partnerships instead of lobbying to block it, they too stand to win.

    Also read:

  • Do this to your WhatsApp so that you don’t get hacked

    Do this to your WhatsApp so that you don’t get hacked

    One thing I can say is this is one of those scenarios where the saying “Prevention is better than cure” is truly fitting. Recovering a hacked WhatsApp account is extremely hard and sometimes impossible compared to just preventing it from getting hacked in the first place. So here is how you prevent your WhatsApp account from getting hacked.

    Use the genuine version of WhatsApp

    I know some of you and your shady dealings prefer to use non-genuine versions of WhatsApp like GB. They are cool and they have some interesting features in there. However, the fact that they are not genuine means that their security cannot be verified. They could have some backdoors that may allow someone with enough motivation to break into your account and take it over.

    What you want to do is download your WhatsApp from a trusted source like the Google Play Store, Huawei App Gallery (for Huawei devices with no Google Play Store), or directly from the WhatsApp website that I linked here. These sources are regulated and have security measures kept up to date so that your WhatsApp does not have any backdoors someone can use to take over your account.

    Keep it updated

    There is a conspiracy running around saying updating apps and the software fills up your phone’s storage and that updates ruin a perfectly working app or phone. That is not true. Updates bring in new features to already existing apps that you might actually like, for example, if you keep your genuine version of WhatsApp updated, you will get most of those features that you are getting in your GBs but without the security risk.

    On top of that, updates also come with enhanced and up-to-date security measures to ensure that hacking someone’s account remains extremely impossible. Because the older something is, the more hackers understand it better and develop new tools and methods of hacking it. So if you keep your app updated, the hackers and their methods will always be outdated.

    Setup 2-Factor Authentication (2FA)/2-step verification abeg!

    2-factor Authentication (2FA) is an added security measure specifically designed for hackers. Traditionally, the method WhatsApp was used to verify that the number you are using to create the account is yours was by sending an SMS or calling this number and issuing a 6-digit verification code. Never share this 6-digit verification code with ANYONE!

    This worked well up until hackers were able to intercept these SMSs and/or calls before they got to the owner. This process is called sim swapping. This is where 2FA comes in. On top of the verification code sent to you by WhatsApp, you can also set a custom 6-digit PIN that WhatsApp will ask for whenever you are setting up your account on a new device. If a hacker is to try and hack your account, they will need to have this pin to complete the process of taking over your account. It makes it extremely hard for your account to be hacked when 2FA is enabled. Here is how you enable it.

    • Open WhatsApp, click on the 3-dot menu button, and select “Settings”
    • Click “Account” and select “Two-step Verification
    • If you have not turned on two-step verification there will be a button saying “Turn on”. Click on it and set your 6-digit pin
    • WhatsApp will randomly ask you to enter this pin to just ensure that you do not forget it and that the user of the account is still you.

    Set an email, useful in recovering a hacked account

    In the latest version of Genuine WhatsApp, I have to keep reminding you GB users, WhatsApp added an option to add your email to the app. The purpose of this email is to try and make use of it to recover your account in the event that it’s successfully hacked. Here is how you set it up.

    • Open WhatsApp, click on the 3-dot menu button, and select “Settings”
    • Click “Account” and select “Email address”
    • Enter your email address, preferably one that you own and use already.
    • WhatsApp will use this email to send you a 6-digit verification code as a way of confirming the email address. (It expires after 4 hours)
    • Enter this verification code in WhatsApp and you are all set.

    In the event that you are hacked and you are trying to recover your account, WhatsApp will ask you for the email that was linked to the account. If the email addresses match, WhatsApp will send you an email to reset your account which will log out of all the devices the app is logged into and you begin the account creation process again. If you had two-step verification enabled, you might be asked for the 6-digit PIN you set up so don’t forget that one.

    Stay away from suspect stuff on the internet or circulating on WhatsApp

    We all know about those posts. “if you don’t forward this message to 20 contacts you are a devil worshipper”, and “Share in 10 groups and good luck will come your way before the day ends”. All those messages with links to some get-rich-quick schemes. These are all rich and fertile grounds for hackers.

    You end up unknowingly being sent to sites that install all sorts of plugins and malware on your phone, some of which will be collecting data from your phone and sending it back to the hacker who made the malware. Some of this data is what they then use to obtain information they will use to gain access to your apps and accounts. If it looks suspect ignore it.

    As you can see from this post, taking measures to prevent your account from getting hacked is a lot easier than trying to recover a hacked account. So share this with your loved ones now before they come to you, their resident tech guy, asking you the impossible question of how to regain access to their hacked account.

    Also Read:

  • EU doing the lord’s work. Apple now bringing RCS support to iMessage

    EU doing the lord’s work. Apple now bringing RCS support to iMessage

    Imagine for a second you are Carl Pei, CEO of a new smartphone company called Nothing and you have lasted long enough in the business to release a second phone. But you need something to stand out about it. The fancy lights on its transparent back are just not cutting it and you don’t yet have a carrier deal with any of the US carriers.

    You cook up an interesting idea. Code up a messaging app that supports iMessage. Make it exclusive on your new phone and maybe that will make it sell. The only Android smartphone that supports iMessage. Literally days after announcing this, not weeks but days, news comes out that the only saving grace you spent a lot of effort developing hoping will turn your sales around has been made redundant because news broke that iMessage will be supporting RCS.

    It also does not help with Nothing’s case that their messaging app with iMessage support got flagged for security vulnerabilities and they ended up removing it from the Play Store while they worked on the ‘bugs’.

    Apple has ignored RCS this whole time. What’s changed?

    The EU is what. They enacted a Digital Markets Act that looks at the players in the digital landscape, identifies players that are classified as gatekeepers, and looks to revise that gatekeeper status and allow for a more open and fair digital playground. So interoperability is high on the list amongst other things.

    This act is essentially coming at digital services like Microsoft and its heavy promotion of Bing in Windows as well as the walled garden that is Apple’s iMessage amongst other digital services.

    The new rules will establish obligations for gatekeepers, “do’s” and “don’ts” they must comply with in their daily operations.

    Examples of the “do’s”: gatekeepers will for example have to:

    -allow third parties to inter-operate with the gatekeeper’s own services in certain specific situations;
    -allow their business users to access the data that they generate in their use of the gatekeeper’s -platform;
    -provide companies advertising on their platform with the tools and information necessary for -advertisers and publishers to carry out their own independent verification of their advertisements -hosted by the gatekeeper;
    -allow their business users to promote their offer and conclude contracts with their customers outside the gatekeeper’s platform.

    Example of the “don’ts”: gatekeepers will for example no longer:

    -treat services and products offered by the gatekeeper itself more favourably in ranking than similar services or products offered by third parties on the gatekeeper’s platform;
    -prevent consumers from linking up to businesses outside their platforms;
    -prevent users from un-installing any pre-installed software or app if they wish so;
    -track end users outside of the gatekeepers’ core platform service for the purpose of targeted advertising, without effective consent having been granted.

    European Commission

    The penalties for resisting are pretty intense. Up to 10% of annual turnover if a gatekeeper does not comply, up to 20% of annual turnover if they make a repeat offense. It’s too big a penalty for Apple to keep the walls on iMessage that high.

    When an attendee told the Apple CEO that he couldn’t send videos or media files from his iPhone to his mother’s Android phone with the native messaging app, Cook replied saying, “Buy your mom an iPhone”.

    Tim Cook

    This one didn’t age well now, did it? lol

    It’s only a big deal in the US

    The iPhone is the most popular smartphone in the US by far. Since Q3 of 2022, iPhone shipments in the US have consistently been above 50% of all smartphone shipments in the country. With such a huge chunk of the population owning and using iPhones, it then makes certain apps the defacto apps in the country. iMessage is one such app and when in the States, the blue bubble vs green bubble story is a contentious one.

    Everywhere else in the world, other instant messaging apps are popular. WhatsApp, Messenger, and WeChat in China are the dominant messaging services in regions outside of the States. So such a move is most likely going to be welcomed with open arms in the US by non-iPhone users who were being excluded from some of the rich communication features simply because they are using a different platform.

    The biggest benefit all over is security. Traditional SMS is not set up to the same security standard as RCS messaging in the world of Android or iMessage in the world of Apple. This means that currently if an iMessage user communicates with an Android user, iMessage will switch to the older traditional SMS or MMS standard to send the message. The same goes for the reverse where an RCS user sends a message to an iMessage user. Since RCS is not yet supported by iMessage, an RCS messaging app will default to traditional SMS or MMS when sending messages to Apple devices.

    With iMessage supporting RCS, messaging between these 2 platforms will now take place in a more secure environment. And also all the added benefits of sharing high-quality images and videos, documents, integration with payments for services, and all the goodies that come as a result of this newer messaging standard.

    Either way, the European Commission deserves ka something pa EcoCash for the work they are doing. Come 2027 they will be bringing removable batteries in smartphones. What a time to be alive.

    Also Read:

  • The negatives of Starlink coming to Zimbabwe and why we shouldn’t worry about them

    The negatives of Starlink coming to Zimbabwe and why we shouldn’t worry about them

    Starlink has many Zimbabweans, myself included, all giddy. We feel like we have been getting terrible internet service for a few years. To make matters worse, we feel we are paying too much for that terrible service.

    So, it is no wonder the country is smitten by Starlink, which is not even officially available yet. You know how obsessed people are though, they tend to overlook the red flags in their romantic pursuits. We don’t want to be those people.

    Some of the reasons we are excited about Starlink are here: Tell your MP that this is why people are excited about Starlink – access, affordability, reliability.

    Today, let’s talk about the drawbacks of Starlink entering the market.

    Local ISPs

    I know, the relationship that local internet service providers (ISPs) have with Zimbabweans is probably the worst it’s ever been. In today’s talk, ISPs shall include Internet Access Providers (IAPs).

    So, we find ourselves at a point where many would not mind Starlink domination if it came to it. Some actually hope for that, with some even wishing that would lead to at least one local ISP shutting down.

    This is not to say Starlink is a death sentence for local ISPs. Far from it. However, the entrance of Starlink will likely affect their operations to a significant degree.

    Why is this bad, if the local ISPs have been fleecing their compatriots? – the salty internet user asks. Well…

    Think of the jobs

    Local ISPs employ a good number of Zimbabweans. We have a high enough unemployment rate, we don’t need Starlink adding to that.

    If we allow Starlink to kill our local ISPs, what would happen if Starlink decided to exit the market for whatever reason? We would not have local ISPs to fill that gap. That brings us to …

    National security

    It is no secret that the Zimbabwean government has had EcoCash in its crosshairs for a while. Some of the reasons why they wanted (still want) to cripple it make sense.

    Back when EcoCash was at its peak, then ICT Minister Supa Mandiwanzira, incidentally the same guy trying to block Starlink’s application today, talked about how if Ecocash goes down either because of system failure or intentionally for political purposes the impact would be huge.

    His point was that such a critical service – mobile money – should not be in total control of a private entity. Even a private entity, founded and incorporated in the country.

    Internet access is arguably more important, it is more critical in today’s economy, even mobile money requires it. You can see how it would be problematic for it to be in the hands of a private corporation. Worse still, an American one.

    This is all assuming, or at least considering the worst-case scenario where Starlink dominates and some local ISPs pivot from that sector.

    There are legitimate reasons why a government would not want that.

    Of course, some of it has to do with the lack of control the government would have on Starlink. We have seen the Zimbabwean government order internet providers to shut down the internet before. The govt later denied this, claiming it was congestion but Strive Masiyiwa had already let the cat out of the bag,

    My Companies Were Complying With The Law When They Blocked The Internet But I am Praying And Fasting For You Says Strive Masiyiwa

    The probability that Elon Musk would comply with such an order is low.

    Empty Zimra coffers

    Yes, if Starlink is granted a licence it would have to have a presence here and that would include payment of taxes. However, it would still mean less taxes paid to the government.

    Starlink is cheaper than the fixed internet providers it would disrupt. It would collect less revenue and pay out less taxes. You could argue that would not be the case. However, when we consider the lower PAYE tax the govt would collect it would become the case.

    That’s all small potatoes though. If some ISPs bow out that would mean they won’t pay licence fees come renewal time. You will remember that the government charges arms and legs for licences. Fewer players to licence would mean less revenue collected.

    Our precious forex

    We would be shipping out our scarce forex to Elon Musk if Starlink dominated. We do not have the forex to do this.

    The question then becomes, would the govt force Starlink to accept the ZW$? It is the official currency of the land after all, they would have to.

    At the very least, they would have to do that to create a level playing field. As much as I want Starlink to come, I would not support special treatment for Musk. He can’t demand USD whilst the likes of Econet are forced to accept the lovely ZW$.

    If we decide to allow Starlink to refuse ZW$, we should allow our local ISPs to refuse it too. If not, Musk must accept ZW$.

    Would Musk agree to that? I don’t think so. I suspect this may be one of the major factors delaying Starlink’s licence.

    Why the above shouldn’t trouble us

    I don’t think Starlink will dominate, something none of us want. We want competition, not to substitute one monopoly for another, however sweet the new would-be monopoly looks right now.

    The local ISPs have been coasting and I believe the entrance of Starlink will force them to tweak things to survive. They know they are giving us a raw deal, even after considering the terrible economic conditions they are operating in.

    Just last week we saw a Liquid Home promotion where they are offering 5 times the speeds they normally offer at no extra cost. They have always had this capacity, I would argue, they just didn’t have any reason to offer that.

    There is much more that our resilient ISPs would do to compete with Starlink, I’m certain of it. Would they have to relook at their cost structures? Yes. Could that mean some layoffs? Probably, but they would survive.

    The major reason – cost

    Then there is the major reason that Starlink won’t mean the death of local ISPs. It is still too expensive for the vast majority of Zimbabwean internet users as we have discussed before.

    It really is the tiny market of fixed internet users that is able to pay $37 for internet access per month. Let alone pay over $600 for the kit. Econet’s $1 WhatsApp bundles are not under much of a threat from Starlink.

    There is a chance that some enterprising Zimbos will open internet cafes all over the country utilising Starlink. Imagine one at your local vegetable market with the entrepreneur collecting the $1 or $2 per week that would have gone to Econet from all the vendors there.

    For unlimited internet, which would not be slower than mobile internet even after considering tens of people on the same router, the entrepreneur could charge even more than that. I believe there is a sizable group of people that would be able to pay.

    Anyway, what do you think about all this? Do you think Starlink will disrupt the sector or do you think our ISPs will rise to the challenge?

    Also read:

  • Get faster speeds on select Liquid Home Fibronix packages, up to 250Mbps, take that Starlink

    Get faster speeds on select Liquid Home Fibronix packages, up to 250Mbps, take that Starlink

    Ever looked at two things and gotten a sense that they are connected even when you have no evidence to back it up? I can’t help looking at Liquid’s latest promotion and concluding that Starlink has something to do with it.

    Whatever motivated the promotion is not important though. What’s important is that it is here now. Liquid is calling it the “10 times the speed” promotion and here’s what you get.

    Liquid is promising internet speeds that are 10 times faster than you normally get on selected Fibroniks packages. Here is what’s on offer:

    PackageSpeedDataGiftedPrice (ZWL)
    Fibronix Family EntertainmentUp to 20 MbpsUnlimitedUp to 100 Mbps$2,059,420
    Fibronix Modern FamilyUp to 30 MbpsUnlimitedUp to 150 Mbps$2,808,300
    Fibronix Power PackUp to 50 MbpsUnlimitedUp to 200 Mbps$3,744,400
    Fibronix Turbo PackUp to 100 MbpsUnlimitedUp to 250 Mbps
    Fibronix LiteUp to 10 Mbps40GBUp to 50 Mbps$87,725
    Fibronix Basic EssentialsUp to 10 Mbps50GBUp to 50 Mbps$118,431
    Fibronix Family EssentialsUp to 10 Mbps100GBUp to 50 Mbps$267,556
    Fibronix Come AliveUp to 10 Mbps150GBUp to 50 Mbps$300,429

    The keen-eyed among us would have noticed that it’s not quite 10 times the speed. It’s at most 5 times the speed. There is no shame in a 5 times boost to speeds, I am not quite sure why the marketing department decided to fib and call it “10 times.”

    The promotion runs from today, the 1st of November until the 31st of January. I guess it’s meant to be a little carrot to make you subscribe during the holidays. All you have to do is subscribe to any of the listed packages and you will get the speeds. More of this, please.

    You will get those speeds the moment you get a package. I tested it and I’m getting about 50 Mbps (I’m on the capped packages like the peasant that I am). My speed test history shows that I normally get around 10 Mbps.

    One can only hope that this promotion is a sign that we could be seeing speed bumps in the future more permanently. We have established that it is fixed internet providers like Liquid that have the most to worry about when it comes to Starlink.

    The satellite internet company offers speeds of at least 50 Mbps, with some users reporting consistently getting speeds in the 150 Mbps range. If Liquid cannot match Starlink’s $47 uncapped package, they can at least match or beat it on speeds. So, for Liquid’s sake, I hope it is speed bumps I see in the tea leaves.

    What’s crazy about this all is how 5G is putting fixed internet speeds to shame. The fastest internet I ever experienced was on T-Mobile’s network in Detroit. I got download speeds of over 500 Mbps.

    Also read:

    Of the man who got access to Liquid customers’ accounts and stole their data, allegedly

    VoIP gives fixed lines a new lease on life, Africom claiming a big piece from Liquid

  • With the recent ZW$ data tariff hikes in mind, what’s cheaper to pay with – USD or ZW$ now?

    With the recent ZW$ data tariff hikes in mind, what’s cheaper to pay with – USD or ZW$ now?

    For as long as the Zimbabwe dollar exists, it will depreciate rapidly and we will have to contend with regular price increases. However, we still have a multicurrency regime and prices quoted in the US dollar are a tad more stable.

    Recently, mobile network operators were allowed to increase their tariffs and so we have to dance again to find out what’s the best option when paying – USD or ZW$.

    Of course, the rate we will use to convert is important. I am not sure what kind of rate you get from your neighbourhood dealer but we shall work with 1:6500. Feel free to make your own conversions using the rate you actually get on the ground.

    Here is what Econet will charge you:

    Private WiFi + O/Peak – USD:

    • $38 = Peak 25GB + O/Peak 5GB
    • $26.50 = Peak 16.6GB + O/Peak 3.4GB
    • $20 = Peak 11.2GB + O/Peak 2.8GB
    • $13 = Peak 8GB + O/Peak 2GB
    • $9 = Peak 4GB + O/Peak 1GB

    Private WiFi – ZW$:

    • $1,012,212 = 50GB [∼US$156, sheesh]
    • $589,350 = 25GB [∼US$91, my goodness]
    • $402,066 = 15GB [∼US$62]
    • $222684 = 8GB [∼US$34]

    As you can see, you have no business paying using ZW$. Look at the 25GB bundle for example, if you pay using USD, you will have to pay $38 but if you use ZW$, you will fork out the equivalent of $91.

    The only people who should buy Private WiFi bundles using ZW$ are those that are getting an exchange rate of at least 1:15,510.

    General Data – USD:

    • Hourly Bouquets → $2 = Peak 2500MB + O/Peak 500MB (1 Hour)
    • Daily Bouquets → $3 = Peak 520MB, O/Peak 130MB
    • Weekly Bouquets → $3 = Peak 400MB, O/Peak 100MB; $4 = Peak 800MB, O/Peak 224MB
    • No monthly bouquets

    General Data – ZW:

    • Hourly Bouquets → No hourly bouquet
    • Daily Bouquet → $16,701 = 600MB [∼US$2.57]
    • Weekly Bouquets → $7,062 = 250MB [∼US$1.09]; $9,719 = 370MB [∼US$1.50]
    • Monthly Bouquet → $36,885 = 1400MB [∼US$5.67]

    The first thing to note is that there are way more options on the ZW$ side of the table. We only picked the ones that were the most comparable to the USD options.

    There isn’t much of a difference between the USD and ZW$ options in the general data category. For example, you will get 650MB for US$3 of which 130MB of it is only usable between 11pm and 4am. Or 600MB for the equivalent of US$2.57 using ZW$. It’s cheaper to pay using ZW$ in this case but not by much

    Consider the rate you can get and decide accordingly.

    WhatsApp – USD:

    • $3 = WhatsApp 1 Month – Peak 400MB, O/Peak 100MB
    • $7 = WhatsApp 1 Month – Peak 1200MB, O/Peak 300MB

    WhatsApp – ZW$:

    • $11,397 = WhatsApp 1 Month – 400MB [∼US$1.75]
    • $6,879 = WhatsApp 1 Month – 240MB [∼US$1.06]

    The obvious choice here is the ZW$ one. You get 400MB for only US$1.75 as opposed to $3 for the same amount of data if you paid using USD. Yes, I know, there is a bonus 100MB usable in the middle of the night with the USD option but I don’t think many people take advantage of that.

    For today only

    Unfortunately, the above comparisons are for today only because the exchange rate is always fluctuating. On top of that, the comparison is only accurate if you get an exchange rate of 6500. We all get slightly different rates and so some will find the above misleading.

    However, I do not believe anyone is getting a rate high enough to justify buying Private WiFi bundles using ZW$. Use US$ for those.

    What’s crazy though is that this will change in time as the ZW$ continues to slide against the USD. Econet here jumped on the chance to charge the maximum they could to make sure they get the most they can before the rates change. This tends to happen when prices are controlled as they are in the telecoms sector.

    Anyway, remember there are combos in the USD menu that might provide more value to you. You can read about those here:

    Econet rearranged USD bundle menus, your favourite bundle still exists, its just hidden

    POTRAZ says Zim has cheapest data in region, viral video says most expensive in world. Who’s the liar?

  • POTRAZ says Zim has cheapest data in region, viral video says most expensive in world. Who’s the liar?

    POTRAZ says Zim has cheapest data in region, viral video says most expensive in world. Who’s the liar?

    Last week we were all bombarded by notifications from our telecom service providers: mobile networks, fixed internet folks- everyone, about price “adjustments.” Like you, I hate those notices. In Zimbabwe, the adjustments are never downward so we don’t welcome them. At all!

    As expected, all kinds of images, memes and videos went viral. Isn’t the internet beautiful? We can vent en masse! I found it interesting that all these viral items made so much noise that POTRAZ issued a press statement. They really went into it justifying why they gave the nod for tariffs to increase.

    It seems POTRAZ was particularly made unhappy by a claim made in one of the viral pieces of content that data was more expensive in Zim than anywhere else in the region, the world including war torn places! Here’s the POTRAZ Director General:

    Finally, we continue to come across posts purporting to draw evidence from a UK website, cable.co.uk, that Zimbabwe has the most expensive data tariff in the world at USD43.75 per Gigabyte (GB). We reiterate that this is not only false but misleading and malicious. As a matter of fact and contrary to that report, Zimbabwe has the lowest data tariff in the SADC region with an out of bundle tariff of ZWL14,930 which translates to USD3.21 per GB at the September 2023 official exchange rate while the SADC average is at USD4.60.

    POTRAZ Director General, Dr G.K Machengete

    So who is the liar? It’s not so simple.

    POTRAZ’s argument

    First, POTRAZ is very right in the analysis they did. Here is a snippet of the table POTRAZ published. I am excluding fixed internet information to make the table shorter for you:

    Well from the table above, one would say and I guess that’s the point being made by POTRAZ that they didn’t increase the tariff enough. Let’s take the price per megabyte of mobile data for example: in April 2023 when tariffs were last reviewed, the equivalent USD price was 1.6c but right now after the current review, the price is equivalent to 0.53c. Meaning that the new price is still 67% cheaper than it was soon after the April review.

    POTRAZ also published a comparison of prices in the region. They really went into it and used real MNO prices in these places and not just averages. Here’s the POTRAZ table:

    Well nothing much to explain here. POTRAZ’s case is simply that Zim tariffs are below regional tariffs.

    The other side

    POTRAZ is particularly tiffed by the claim that data is costing USD43.75 per GB. This comes from a brief mention of data price comparisons done by Cable, a UK price comparison site. This brief mention was in a particularly viral Tiktok video:

    Now, we will come back to the USD43.75 since this brief mention of Cable was not the only thing in the video. Let’s first talk about where the video started. It talks about the “million dollar heist” which is about a data bundle from Econet priced at above a million bucks, well if we can call our local dollar a buck. As the video makes clear, this bundle price translates to USD3.40 per GB. This is USD0.0034 per MB. According to the POTRAZ table already shared, this is below “the regional average” price of USD0.451. So far the video and POTRAZ seem to be inadvertently agreeing that Zim actually has the cheapest data in the region even after this “adjustment.”

    Now, USD43.75

    As mentioned, the thing that got POTRAZ into a knot is the mention of data in Zim costing USD43.75 per GB. Well, POTRAZ is angry for good reason here. Come on folks, if data was costing 44 bucks (real bucks), we would know! The tiktoker missed this one. I am quite sure that if he had paused a bit, he would have realised the price doesn’t make sense especially after his own math had put the million dollar heist bundle at USD3.40 per GB.

    These UK guys always publish these comparisons and every time they are wrong. We once went into why their methodology is faulty and this is why we no longer bother to publish their outrageously headlined reports when they come out. Bottom line is their methodology lacks context and it results in such bloopers: unless you’all are buying some other data I don’t know about (and am happy that way), we are not paying 44 bucks for a GB of data! With the way you’all stream from pirate sites and those other ones it would mean we are millionaires in real dollars.

    So, the video inadvertently agrees with POTRAZ (and Econet, Netone, Telecel and the rest of them) on the one part and quotes a ridiculous number from a UK website to make a claim that we pay more for internet access than war torn countries on the other part. Does this mean that the guy is a liar? Not exactly.

    Oranges, donkeys, paper clips

    This is where things get messy. So far we have been talking about the stuff POTRAZ gave us to compare. POTRAZ didn’t lie about those numbers but then again POTRAZ might not be necessarily right that Zimbabwe has the cheapest internet and whatever else in the region.

    Do you remember how your Grade 3 teacher used to tell you not to add oranges and donkeys? POTRAZ was talking about out of bundle pricing and rightly comparing those oranges to the out of bundle oranges in the region. However, neither we in Zimbabwe and they in neighboring countries experience much of out of bundle internet (this is one of the things Cable gets wrong by the way).

    Comparing bundles is not so easy though. There are a lot of combinations to bundles. Some of the variables are:

    • how long the bundle will last
    • is it for particular apps/websites (WhatsApp for example) and which ones and in what combinations
    • is it in combination with other none data services (like voice)
    • how much data
    • how much bandwidth (there is a certain WhatsApp bundle in Zim that doesn’t do WhatsApp calls- pisses me off)

    This almost makes bundle comparisons a comparison of oranges and donkeys. The best person to compare is the individual who knows exactly how they use the internet and then they place themselves through scenarios of the different bundle offers locally and regionally and then they figure out which would have the best cost/benefit trade off for them. But still, umbrella comparisons can be done. POTRAZ didn’t do such, it would be too much work honestly and POTRAZ regulates the open tariffs and not bundles per se although they do check and satisfy themselves if the bundles don’t violate the open tariff.

    I suspect bundles in the region are more promotional than here in Zim. See, in those stable economies the issue of tariffs is not as hot a topic which comes back every so often as in Zim. Here in Zim where the regulated price gets eroded by inflation from time to time, I suspect the operators don’t necessarily cook up promotional bundles to compete against each other but they mix them up in a way that allows them to make some meaningful return from their services. The motivations are very different. This is my conjecture though so take it with a grain of salt.

    So, the problem is that the viral video carelessly included a faulty statistic from the UK to an otherwise good delivery even though it agreed with POTRAZ that data is cheaper in Zim than the region. The second problem is that POTRAZ compared out of bundle pricing which is not really how we experience the internet in Zim and the region. So whether we actually experience a cheaper internet access than our friends in the region is not really answered because no one compared our actual experiences.

    Zim is even more complicated

    The biggest problem I have with this discussion so far is that we are talking about the price of telecom services in Zimbabwe based on ZWL prices. Zimbabwe’s currency is not stable so all the numbers we have been throwing around will be substantially different by tomorrow. Added to that, we have been using the official exchange rate. Who says the official exchange rate is the most accurate?

    In fact, the issue of the local currency is what distorts things. I see a bundle priced at a million and I gasp, but man, a million of what? The million dollar bundle turned out to be below the regional average. Still, seeing a million is not something I get used to. Even those days when we bought bread for billions of V1 Zim dollars, it was not something we could get used to.

    Another problem brought on by currency has kind of been highlighted by POTRAZ in their rant against social media. ZWL tariffs are changing too infrequently. So infrequently that after a 100% increase, the new prices are still less than what they were in April by a good 67%! In fact what this means is that just before the recent change the price per megabyte was 0.26c which made it cheaper than it was in April by 84%. This cannot be sustainable.

    But this is a problem you and I dear reader love. We get it all cheap and man we need it cheap man, our pockets are empty already. Issue is we get used to the cheap so much that we forget this is all a gift from the Zim economy and its distortions. When the “adjustments” come we don’t like it at all.

    Perhaps it would be better if POTRAZ approved small increases during the course of the year instead of the sudden 100% increases. The reason we scream and shout is because we just see a massive jump to a million. We don’t notice how the price of a 500g packet of beans has been increasing over the year and that it actually changed much more than the bundle. Ever heard the story of how if you put a frog in boiling water it jumps out for its dear life but if you put it in cold water and raise the temperature ever so gradually, it will not notice and be cooked to death? Story is a lie (learnt this after years of sharing the story) but the lesson is true. We jump at 100% and we get cooked to death by the 500g pack of beans.

    Infrequent increases also make the operators max out on the allowed maximum price because they don’t know when the next increase will come. If increases came frequently I guess some would choose to price below maximum knowing that the maximum price will always be moving in line with inflation and currency trends such that they can always be charging a viable tariff. As it stands all the operators price at the ceiling thinking it’s better to make some money while the ceiling tariff makes sense because who knows what it will be worth by the time POTRAZ approves another increase.

    Issue is affordability, has always been

    The real issue in Zim is not the price of data or voice or whatever. It’s not even the price of bread! The real issue is the affordability of all these things. This has little to do with the price itself or the providers of the service. It has most to do with the economy and how poor we have become over the years. We cannot afford bread not because bread is necessarily expensive but because we have no money. The video kind of acknowledges this when the guy compares the price of his selected bundle to what he called the average monthly salary in Zim. At that point I think we should have been more angry about what we are earning because no matter how low stuff is priced, if we are earning peanuts then we cannot afford period. By the way, I don’t know where he got the average salary in Zimbabwe (as informalised as we are). The real number is probably much lower than his.

    The minister of ICT weighed in on this and said she will be looking into this with POTRAZ. I am quite sure she will also see how the issue is not at the price level, it’s much deeper. Conversations like these help: they give us opportunity to look at things at a much deeper layer. The minister will probably have more to say at Cabinet about the state of the economy and such as she starts to be confronted by the real issues.

    So, is there a liar? No. Do we like the “adjustments?” No, we don’t! Are the “adjustments” understandable? WE DPON’T CARE, WE HATE THEM!

  • TelOne announces some network performance improvements for Fiber and ADSL subscribers

    TelOne announces some network performance improvements for Fiber and ADSL subscribers

    TelOne is very much known for being the most reasonably priced ISP in Zimbabwe making it the most favored choice for home internet. However, for a long time, the performance of TelOne’s internet has been the biggest factor pushing its subscribers away towards more expensive but better-performing providers. TelOne saw a dip in broadband subscriber figures by 1,870 subscribers in 2021 and 2022. Recently Telone announced that it has completed its network upgrade which should improve the performance of its network for its subscribers.

    The Network Upgrade

    There is not much detail on the specifics of the network upgrade apart from it being primarily a core network performance improvement. This said improvement is looking at quality of service which refers to the speed of the package you are on.

    Telone mentions that this upgrade is primarily targeted at ADSL and Fiber customers with some experiencing improved speeds of 15 to 50Mbps on Fiber and 2 to 14Mbps on ADSL. When looking at the TelOne X page (formerly Twitter), The comments on their upgrades suggest that their customers are still facing poor internet speeds.

    @TelOneZW for the efforts put in stabilizing your infrastructure, we however seem to be still having some challenges on download speeds, sometimes we will actually be offline. May you kindly look into this.

    There no change after your upgrade. Is it still ongoing ?

    Yooohhh there is nothing that has improved, it’s just the same old story or even worse for me

    My landline had cut recently and when it was fixed (around the time when you first posted about the network upgrade) i did see an improvement to my adsl download speeds (from around 3.6mbps max to 6mbps max), though its still very slow for mordern day tasks

    Twitter commets on TelOne’s upgrade post

    Let’s look at TelOne’s capacity

    According to their 2022 annual report, TelOne has 133,617 broadband subscribers and an installed bandwidth capacity of 142.5Gbps. Doing a bit of rough math this works out to a guaranteed 1.066Mbps for each TelOne subscriber. Not exactly a lot.

    Telone mentions that this upgrade is primarily targeted at ADSL and Fiber customers with some experiencing improved speeds of 15 to 50Mbps on Fiber and 2 to 14Mbps on ADSL. When looking at the TelOne X page (formerly Twitter), The comments on their upgrades suggest that their customers are still facing poor internet speeds.

    Granted in the real world it’s highly improbable for every internet user to be using the internet all the time, neither is it possible for each internet user to be demanding maximum bandwidth from their ISP at all times. So with those realities in mind, it is possible for a user to get the promised 15Mbps that their package allows for. However, it is now best effort which is why ISPs in general use the term ‘up to 15Mbps’. It’s a bandwidth cap rather than a guaranteed download speed.

    So if the network inherently still faces congestion then this might still pose performance issues for subscribers since the outright capacity of the network does not offer enough headroom to reach the bandwidth caps that subscribers are expecting to get.

    We will be running another survey to find out the reality of fixed internet service providers similar to the one we did for mobile internet service providers. If you are a TelOne ADSL or Fiber subscriber, let us know in the comments how you are finding your internet speeds.

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  • Zimbabwe has received Starlink’s application for an operator’s license – Jenfan Muswere

    Zimbabwe has received Starlink’s application for an operator’s license – Jenfan Muswere

    Well, some bit of good news on Starlink. According to Zimlive, former Minister of ICT said in a meeting on Monday this week that Zimbabwe has received Starlink’s license application and it is under review.

    What I remember is that they submitted their application for licencing and POTRAZ was still going through that application… Of course we want to see it approved

    Jenfan Muswere

    He mentioned that the objective is to improve connectivity in Zimbabwe, especially in the more remote parts of the country, which cannot be done through fiber connections alone. In as much as the emphasis is on the remote parts of Zim, fixed operators are overwhelmed with demand for fixed internet services in urban areas. These will more likely be the biggest clients for Starlink.

    We are not out of the woods just yet

    It is being said that Starlink has applied to operate in the country. However, the application still has to be assessed by the regulator, and only after satisfying the regulator will they end up setting up shop. In South Africa, it was at this stage that things fell apart as Starlink could not meet the terms as per ICASA regulations. Fingers crossed that will not be the case locally.

    The estimated date that Starlink expects to have started operations in Zimbabwe is still Q4 of 2023 however after placing a preorder for the kit, Starlink seems to be sending a revised date of Q2 2024. The assumption is the later date is a more current one as it is being backed up by some of our sources with access to Starlink.

    A good number of Zimbos are not waiting

    According to our contacts, demand for Starlink kits has been very high in Zimbabwe to the extent that they have a backlog in supply. Techzim has had inquiries from individuals looking to purchase multiple kits mostly for resale.

    One instance that created the biggest buzz was ZBC with a Starlink terminal mounted on top of their broadcasting van. It left a number of Zimbabweans asking how they are using this service when it is not yet operating officially in the country.

    Image Credit: @iakumandura

    This year saw Mozambique being Zimbabwe’s first neighbor to have the service up and running within their borders making it a much closer location for Zimbabweans to get these kits. Zimbabweans residing close to the Mozambique border are also discovering that they can register the kits in Mozambique and use them in Zimbabwe without signing up for the roaming plan and the inconveniences that come with it (60-day roaming access)

    Zambia was the most recent Zimbabwean neighbor to approve Starlink’s application. The service is not yet officially live according to Starlink’s coverage map meaning you cannot order a kit just yet, however service is expected to be live in Q3 2023 which is the latest end of this month. Again another avenue Zimbabweans desperate to use Starlink will be bringing in their kits from.

    POTRAZ noticed this and issued a statement

    From the statement issued by POTRAZ, using Starlink in Zimbabwe right now is allowed but you will need to be compliant first. The statement targeted 3 types of entities:

    1. A satellite-based service provider (Starlink included)
      Such an operator can provide services in Zimbabwe if they obtain an operator license from the regulator. It can be an independent license or a Virtual Network Operator agreement with an already existing and licensed Public Network Operator.
    2. Resellers and installers
      These are enterprising individuals and businesses just looking to sell the kits. They also need to have a license from POTRAZ to sell these kits.
    3. End-Users
      End-users who wish to use Starlink services for personal use are required to obtain a Private Network license which will allow them to be able to make use of Starlink services.

    This is difficult to police as the only way to verify every kit is literally a door-to-door inspection of every house. And considering how portable and simple the kit is to dismantle and set up, it will be a cat-and-mouse game.

    This will be the current state of affairs for the short term. If Starlink is to be licensed to operate then the hurdles currently present will cease to exist.

    At the moment Starlink is present in 4 African countries including Mozambique, Nigeria, Kenya, and Rwanda with Zambia very close to being the 5th. The average pricing for the kit and the subscriptions in Africa is less than for global markets.

    CountryEquipment costStandard subscription P/M
    NigeriaUS$583.49US$41.82
    RwandaUS$515.45US$43.25
    UKUS$572.01US$93.26
    USAUS$599US$120

    Such pricing is what we can expect in Zimbabwe as well when the service arrives. According to Starlink, they have stopped making losses from the kits as they are finding breakthroughs into a cheaper process of manufacturing them. As the technology matures, the cost of obtaining he kits can drop further making it more accessible.

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  • No, the Zimbabwean govt has not disrupted the internet ahead of election day, it’s something else

    No, the Zimbabwean govt has not disrupted the internet ahead of election day, it’s something else

    [Update: A well-placed source inside Econet says they have not noticed anything abnormal on their network. It’s service as normal]

    African governments have a reputation for shutting down the internet to limit their people’s ability to communicate or stay informed. Just a few weeks ago we were talking about the following statement from the Senegalese government:

    Because of the spread of hateful and subversive messages … mobile Internet is temporarily suspended at certain hours of the day

    The Senegalese have elections in less than 6 months’ time and so the shutdown checks out. We wondered if (or when) Zimbabwe would see its own internet shutdown. It looks like that day is today, or is it?

    Netblocks posted the following message to their Twitter at around 5 pm today, the 22nd of August:

    Confirmed: Metrics indicate that internet service has been degraded in #Zimbabwe on the eve of elections; the incident impacts online platforms on NetOne, Econet, TelOne and Liquid, potentially affecting citizens’ ability to stay informed

    We reached out to Econet and NetOne and will update you when we hear from them. However, TechCabal quotes Econet saying,

    We are facing a system challenge and we are working towards restoring normalcy. Any inconvenience caused is sincerely regretted

    Who is this NetBlocks by the way? It is a watchdog organisation that monitors the cybersecurity and governance of the internet. It is a legit organisation and has helped us make sense of some internet degradations in Zimbabwe in the past.

    That may be but we don’t take everything they say as gospel. We did our own tests and asked around and found that internet service is just at its normal disappointing level for most. Most people are reporting nothing unusual today. Same for us.

    So, what gives?

    Are NetBlocks lying? Not really, it’s complicated. There really is some internet service degradation.

    Two subsea cables – the West African Cable System (WACS) and the South Atlantic 3 (SAT-3/WASC) – were damaged off the coast of West Africa around the 8th of August. This damage has affected us down here in Southern Africa.

    Were it not for Google’s Equiano undersea cable that we talked about last year, we would be in deep trouble. The Equiano cable picked up the slack but some degradation was still observed.

    Said Liquid Dataport CEO, as quoted by Data Centre Dynamics,

    As part of our disaster recovery process and to offer high redundancy to our customers, we have migrated our customers’ West Coast traffic to our new Equiano subsea cable. Whilst this additional capacity has brought in a much-needed increase in bandwidth in Western and Southern Africa, the redundancy is also the reason why we are able to minimize the impact on our customers.

    They managed to minimise the impact but there still was some impact and that’s what NetBlocks is picking up.

    A compelling narrative

    I believe NetBlocks got caught up in a narrative and rushed to insinuate that there was a nefarious reason for the degradation. They didn’t outright say the government had tinkered with things, they merely pointed out the curious timing of the degradation.

    The timing appears to be just a coincidence. We asked some experts and the word is they expect one of the damaged cables to be fixed by the 25th of August whilst the other one could stay broken for over 3 months.

    It behoves us to remember that NetBlocks’ X bio says “The Internet’s Observatory: Tracking cybersecurity and digital governance • connectivity and democracy • tools and policy for change”. That focus on connectivity and democracy and seeking change may have led to the sensationalisation.

    The degradation foretold by many

    It didn’t help that influential people like Freeman Chari have been warning us that the government might be planning to shut the internet down on election day. Said Chari on X,

    So I hear that they are now contemplating shutting down the internet on election day. In the next few days we will make a major announcement about that….

    The opposition party, CCC, intends to use the DemoVox parallel vote tabulation system we talked about earlier this month. It involves ordinary citizens taking pictures of V11s posted at polling stations and sending them over for processing by CCC.

    It makes all the sense in the world to believe that the government would want to cripple internet access to prevent that.

    Now, this is not to say the government won’t try to shut down the internet tomorrow as Chari is warning. What we are saying is that today’s observed degradation is a result of damage to two undersea cables in West Africa. I would bet my life savings that the Zim govt did not remotely trigger the rock falls that damaged the cables.

    Interesting tidbit, Chari says even if the govt shuts down the internet on election day they will still be able to communicate and share images.

    I have no idea what kind of solution they have but I can’t wait to dig into the details,

    I wish I could announce this but seeing how jittery they are, its better to keep them guessing. If they shut down the network tomorrow you will see us tichingenga. I promise to open source this after elections so our villagers can benefit.

    It looks like we won’t have to wait long. We shall push for the open sourcing of whatever it is they have cooking.

    Also read:

    A new system that will verify election results in real-time to be legally deployed by CCC

    Google’s subsea cable meant to improve internet speeds and lower costs reaches South Africa

    Internet throttled during Yellow Sunday plus 10% internet tax is bad for Zimbabwe