Zimbabwe's Econet achieves 5m

TELECOMS

Zimbabwe’ s Econet Wireless has announced that it has achieved its target of 5 million subscribers before Christmas.

The operator reports that it now has 5 million subscribers and 400 000 Econet Broadband users, and accounts for the largest number of lines sold in Zimbabwe.

CEO Douglas Mboweni said the total number of subscribers stood at 5,012 million as at November 30.

He said demand for new lines remained strong, but the company was currently managing to sell all the lines being released onto the market.

Econet continues to account for the majority of all lines sold in the market, Mboweni said. The increase in the subscriber base has been made possible by the ongoing network expansion.

The three products being offered under Econet Broadband, the national broadband service which was launched in October, now have a total of 432 312 subscribers.

Work on the fibre optic network has been completed, and the network has a direct connection to the SEACOM cable in Durban, South Africa, Mboweni said.

Through its parent company, Econet Wireless Group, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe also has dedicated capacity on SEACOM cable, ensuring its customers do not have to go through the networks of third parties.

In other news, Econet has called on the government to help it recover USD38 million in call termination fees owed to it by state-run TelOne. Econet said it had not been paid any since January 2009.