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GOVERNMENT-owned telecommunication companies have no excuse for not declaring dividends given abundant opportunities in the sector, a cabinet minister has said. The government is the sole shareholder in several telecommunication companies which include TelOne, NetOne, Powertel and Zarnet. Most of these are perennial poor performers in sharp contrast with their private counterparts. Zimbabwe’s telecoms sector has registered massive growth in the past five years that has seen the country’s tele-density shooting to more than 100 percent.
Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services Minister Supa Mandiwanzira said government telecom companies had to up their game and compete with their peers in the private sector.
“There is no reason why private companies in the telecommunications sector are paying dividends and government owned telecommunications companies, with even bigger advantages aren’t paying dividends to the government,” Minister Mandiwanzira said while officially launching TelOne’s new logo and new services this week.
“We’ve benchmarks of performance in the telecommunications sector. We want to measure you against that performance (of private companies).”
Econet Wireless, Zimbabwe’s biggest telecommunications company, which was the last to be licensed, has outgrown its peers due to massive financial resources the firm’s shareholders have poured in the company.
Its revenues are nearing the $1 billion mark.
Minister Mandiwanzira, however, acknowledged that the government owned telecom firms were not getting much financial support from the government through the national budget but called for innovation on the part of the firms to improve their performance.
He said the firms must not be associated with poor service delivery which is synonymous with government owned firms.
Minister Mandiwanzira urged the firms to continue investing in infrastructure, which he said was key in driving Zimbabwe’s development agenda.
“We need to deliver services to our people, we need to deploy infrastructure. Infrastructure is important for us to be able to do any other development for our country and ICTs have been identified as an enabler in terms of rebuilding our economy,” Mandiwanzira said.
Studies have shown that a 10 percent growth in broadband usage translates to a growth of more than one percent in a country’s Gross Domestic Product. At the event, TelOne launched two new services Metro-WiFI and “fibre to home.”
The firm’s managing director, Chipo Mtasa said the Metro-WiFI project, which is still being rolled out countrywide, will provide access to data services at selected areas at cheaper rates. While other telecommunications firms charge $1 for 10MB, TelOne will be charging $1 for 100MB for its data services.
Mtasa said access points had already been set up at places including Mupedzanhamo, Siyaso, Copacabana as well as Fourth Street bus terminus in Harare.
Under “fibre to the home,” subscribers can have their homes directly connected to the fibre network which allows them to easily access telecommunications services. Mandiwanzira challenged other telecommunication companies to relook at their services charges.
“I think that it begs a very serious question – why are Zimbabwean mobile telecommunications consumers paying more money if we can have a company doing this (offering services at such a low price).” – New Ziana.
Online Reporter