Z$ cellular tariffs hiked

Herald Correspondent

Telecommunications companies can now double their local currency tariffs, but have to keep their US dollar tariffs constant, after the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) agreed to the first Zimbabwe dollar tariff increase since February.

Since February the Zimbabwe dollar has depreciated from $687 to $5 670 to the US dollar. 

The three mobile telecommunications companies in Zimbabwe: Econet, NetOne and Telecel, have all announced new tariffs effective this week, which will see the price of voice calls, data and SMS double. 

“Dear customer. We are reviewing our Zimbabwe dollar 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 customers.

At the same time, the country’s third largest mobile network operator, Telecel Zimbabwe, advised its customers that they would “be reviewing our ZWL voice, data and SMS prices, effective 25 October 2023”.

NetOne and TelOne also announced similar price reviews.

Potraz 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.