POTRAZ grants telecoms companies two-fold Zim dollar tariff increase

THE Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) has approved a two-fold increase in the country’s telecommunications companies’ Zim dollar (ZWL) tariffs. US dollar tariffs, however, remain unchanged. The latest increase in headline and promotional tariffs comes after the local dollar tariffs were last reviewed in February 2023.

Since then, key economic indicators of the industry’s viability, including a stable currency and the price of electricity and fuel, have experienced significant fluctuations, resulting in the need for a review of the ZWL tariff for telecommunications companies, industry players have said.

In the period (since the last tariff review) the Zimbabwe dollar has depreciated by more than 800 percent, from ZWL$687 to ZWL5,670 to the US dollar, on the official market. The three mobile telecommunications companies in Zimbabwe – Econet, NetOne, and Telecel all announced new tariffs effective this week, that will see the price of voice calls, data and SMS double from the pre-increase period. “Dear customer.

We are reviewing our ZWL voice, data and SMS prices, effective 24 October 2023. Visit https://www.econet.co.zw/services/tariffs for more information,” Econet Wireless Zimbabwe said in a notice to customer. At the same time, the country’s third largest mobile network operator, Telecel Zimbabwe, advised its customers: “we will be reviewing our ZWL voice, data and SMS prices, effective 25 October 2023”.

State-owned operators NetOne and TelOne also announced similar price reviews. POTRAZ has said the tariff adjustment was necessary to allow mobile operators to maintain and improve their services. The regulator also noted that the new tariffs were still below the regional average.-chronicle