JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—Zimbabwe is a country on the threshold of total anarchy and economic collapse. With the recent elections, the world is collectively holding its breath to see if the beleaguered country will ever recover from the decades of abuse. Yet within this political, social and economic catastrophe exists a mobile operator that is, against all odds, exhibiting signs of becoming a success story—Econet Wireless.
African information technology (IT) and telecom research company BMI-TechKnowledge recently conducted studies into the state of the Zimbabwean telecommunications and IT market and found a thriving mobile industry.
“The fixed-line telephony market has yet to see the light at the end of the liberalization tunnel and the economy is flailing, yet despite the almost insurmountable troubles plaguing the country, the mobile market is managing to fashion itself into a respectable industry,” explained Dobek Pater, BMI-TechKnowledge analyst.
Research has found that Econet Wireless has opened 19 communication centers in the country by converting old buses to house communications facilities, such as public phones and faxes, while in conjunction with its Internet arm, it has established a number of Internet cafes.
Econet Wireless was also the first mobile operator in Africa to offer CNN and BBC World News Service reports through mobile phones. Econet plans to introduce mobile banking and wireless Internet access services to enhance network use by customers. In conjunction with its Internet arm Ecoweb, Econet plans to offer the first mobile information services in Zimbabwe, which would allow customers to access a range of short message service (SMS) information services, such as stock exchange results and local newspaper reports.
“Econet is a forward-thinking concern. The organization plans to continue to acquire and build regional operations as successive African markets deregulate and formerly state-owned telecommunications enterprises privatize,” said Pater.
Telecel Zimbabwe is the other private mobile operator. It represents a partnership between Telecel International and the Empowerment Corporation, a group of local businesses. The mobile network operator plans to double its capacity in terms of equipment installed. BMI-T estimates the subscriber base to have reached more than 100,000 by the end of 2001. These assumptions are predicated on the outcome of current negotiations for financing of expansion plans. Telecel has an agreement with Siemens worth US$15 million to procure capital equipment.
According to BMI-T findings, Telecel has conducted negotiations with state-owned Net*One regarding a potential merger to dethrone Econet from its position as market leader.
“It remains to be seen if Zimbabwe can survive the latest onslaught in its ruinous history, yet it seems that the need for effective mobile communication services surmounts these troubles. Hopefully, the country will be able to stabilize enough to ensure that commercial activity in the mobile communications field can continue to prosper,” concluded Pater.
