Econet on 5G network expansion drive
Listed telecoms giant, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, has embarked on a 5G network expansion in an effort to support the digitalisation drive that has swept not only across Zimbabwe, but globally with massive potential to transform economies. The 5G network has potential to support millions of devices at ultrafast speeds and potential to transform global economies by improving accessibility, extending reach of mobile broadband, while supporting critical sectors such as health, financial, education services sectors as well as manufacturing.
To support this, during the financial year to February 28, 2023 (FY23), Econet embarked on an exercise to improve infrastructure for the 5G network.
“In order to stay abreast of technological advancements and better serve our customers, we added twelve (12) 5G base stations during the year. We remain the only network in the country with 5G technology,” said group chairman Dr James Myers.
Zimbabwe is among the first few African countries to launch 5G together with the likes of South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Botswana. Econet pioneered the service in the country.
“Our 5G and network modernisation rollout plan will increase access to newer technologies such as virtual, augmented, and mixed reality, ultra-high-definition video (UHD) streaming, Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI),” said Dr Myers.
The group also commissioned eighty 80 new base stations providing additional coverage and capacity to meet the growing demand for both voice and data traffic. During FY23, voice and data volumes increased by 19 percent and 58 percent respectively.
“We commenced the deployment of a new modern core network with new generation cloud capabilities. As part of this network modernisation effort, we also deployed state of the art data center infrastructure to ensure high availability of the network,” he said.
Dr Myers said as the group pursues its vision of a digitally connected future that leaves no Zimbabwean behind, it will continue to innovate in order to give a unique digital experience to customers.
He said the consumption of digital services is expected to continue growing and the company has a strong platform to anchor transition to a fully-fledged digital services provider.
“We are exploiting 4G and 5G network enabled opportunities which will be key to keep abreast with emerging global trends and improve service delivery,” he said.
While the country continues to adopt digitalisation, security concerns have also been raised by stakeholders. Cases of cybercrimes have been on the increase calling for secure digital infrastructure.
According to a Cyber Security Report 2021, the prevalence of cyber security in Zimbabwe, is on the increase with 82 percent of businesses saying they had experienced it as cybercriminals take advantage of the growing digitalisation to attack digital infrastructure.
The report also shows the state of the threat in Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe where the most common cyber security threats cited were malware, web-application attacks, email phishing and impersonation, identity theft, data breaches and denial of services.
There are also worries deployment of higher networks in African countries will also widen the continent’s digital divide with only half the people on the continent with access to mobile phones and the majority of them still on 2G technology.
An estimated 9 percent of connections in Africa were 4G in 2019, nearly a decade after its launch in other countries.
The global mobile industry association (GSMA), however, says there is an opportunity for Africa with 4G figures expected to increase to 27 percent by 2025 while 3 percent of connected phones will run on 5G.
-ebusinessweekly
