The Sunday News
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
THE country’s mobile telecommunication companies are this week set to increase data bundles by an average of 30 percent to cater for rising operation costs.
The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) gave the sector the greenlight to review the tariffs in September, with some of the operators adjusting the tariffs for the second time in two months.
Notifying their customers, the country’s largest mobile network operator, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe said it will be reviewing its tariffs on Thursday.
“Dear customers, please note, we will review our voice, data and SMS bundle prices effective Thursday 21 October 2021,” it said.
While NetOne, the second largest increased its tariffs on Tuesday (19 October), indications show that the country’s third mobile operator, Telecel is expected to follow suit any time this week.
The telecoms industry has been experiencing rising operating costs in the past few years as a result of high fuel prices, staff costs, depreciation and bandwidth costs among other things. Potraz Second Quarter review showed that the sector’s operating costs surged by 15,8 percent to $8.9 billion in the second quarter of 2021, up from $7,6 billion in the first quarter.
