Econet invests US$430 million

total investment over the previous two years to over US$430 million, the country’s largest telecoms service provider reported on Wednesday.
In a statement accompanying its financial results for the full year to February, Econet said the investment in network infrastructure helped grow subscriber numbers 55 percent to 5,5 million customers by February.
Econet’s capital investment contributed the bulk of the growth in Zimbabwe’s mobile penetration rate, which rose from 40 percent last year to 66 percent in February this year.
The major network upgrade programme that has been a key focus at the company over the past two years would be completed this year.
This will allow Econet to continue focusing on improvement and creativity in the areas of service quality and value added services.
“The universal access to voice telephony services has largely been achieved. Econet is now focused on providing subscribers with access to pervasive data and value added services in line with international trends.
“The business will now focus on optimising the current capital investments to enhance network quality and boost its data capacity and value added services,” Econet said.
On the SIM cards recently deactivated due to regulatory requirements, the company said over half of these have already been reactivated.
Econet shareholders continued to reap the rewards of the company’s massive growth.