Econet wants telecoms fund scrapped

Telecommunications Regulatory of Zimbabwe-managed USF.
The fund was established to finance telecommunications projects in outlying areas, which the telecommunications companies were under-servicing.
Econet, which is bitter over its contributions to the fund which were lost during the hyperinflation period, argues that the fund was no longer relevant as companies were investing in infrastructure to spread services to all areas.
Econet chief executive officer Mr Douglas Mboweni told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee of Media, Information and Communication recently that operators should retain the funds for deployment into equipment and infrastructure.
“As an operator we are building infrastructure in the rural areas anyway, so we are basically of the view that the USF is probably no longer as relevant as it was in the past because we are already doing the work that it was supposed to do anyway,” he said.
Mr Mboweni accused Potraz of sitting on contributions that were made to the fund between 1998 and 2008 while inflation was galloping before the adoption of multiple foreign currencies.
“We are quite emotional when it gets to the money we paid during the period from 1998 to 2008.
“We kept paying money into the USF only to be told after dollarisation that it was all gone. Not a single site was built using that money,” he said.
He added that it was wise for the funds to be kept by the operators who would then quickly deploy the monies towards useful project unlike what Potraz did before the adoption of multi-currencies.
Meanwhile, Econet has contributed over US$30 million to the fund since the introduction of multiple currencies in 2009.
Mr Mboweni alleged that Government-owned telecommunications entities were not contributing to the fund.
TelOne and NetOne are struggling due to failure by the Government to inject capital into the companies.
Mr Mboweni said the playing field should be levelled to ensure that the rule is applied to all the companies.
Potraz has announced that it intends to construct eight base stations using the money from the fund in areas where there is limited access to connectivity, especially in game parks. — New Ziana.