Skip to Content »

Wireless Federation » archive for 'Zimbabwe'

Econet Wireless on a move to expansion (Zimbabwe)

  • August 11th, 2008
  • 11:29 am

Econet Wireless is now working on its expansion process, it has released  another 220,000 lines to the market. Mobile firm has increased its capacity for its prepaid subscribers. The company has already begin working on the completion of the next phase of its expansion, this will take the subscriber capacity to 1.3 million by the end of November, from around 870,000 currrently.

In an Expansion process, Ericsson is to provide equipment for the expansion of its core network, made up of the switching systems, intelligent network platforms, prepaid systems, as well as new base stations in Harare, Mashonaland and Manicaland. For the southern part of the country ZTE is supplying radio base stations, covering areas such as Bulawayo urban and its environs, Masvingo, Midlands and the Matabeleland provinces. In the remote rural areas, Chinese company will build new sites. With the delay of several months at the time of Zimbabwe elections, two suppliers have begin their work on the expansion plans.

Econet recieves 2.5G and 3G approval (Zimbabwe)

  • July 25th, 2008
  • 2:16 pm

Econet Wireless, Zimbabwe, has received long-awaited approval from regulatory authorities to launch commercial 2.5G and 3G services. It is noted that the cellco rolled out a 900MHz/1800MHz GPRS platform in the middle of 2007 but failed to announce a full commercial launch, whilst it was also ready to roll out a W-CDMA network by the end of the year. Econet’s officials confirmed that GPRS had been installed for a year but had been awaiting approval from regulator POTRAZ for the usage of frequencies. Econet will now launch commercial GPRS services within the next four to eight weeks, whilst 3G could be introduced in the first quarter of next year.

   

Orascom to join Zain, Batelco in Lebanon mobile auction (Egypt)

  • November 6th, 2007
  • 1:28 pm

Egyptian mobile group Orascom Telecom is considering entering the upcoming auction for one of two state-owned Lebanese mobile network operators, its chairman Naguib Sawiris said yesterday. The Egyptian tycoon dismissed risks of political instability in the country, saying that the main problem would be high prices set by the Lebanese government, which hopes to raise as much as USD7 billion from the sale on 21 February. Sawiris said his group, which has stakes in countries including Iraq, Zimbabwe and Pakistan, was used to political and security risks. ‘This is normal for us…Beirut is like a safe haven,’ he told press. At present, Lebanon’s only two mobile networks – MTC Touch Lebanon and Alfa – are managed under government contracts by Kuwaiti-based Zain Group (formerly MTC Group) and German-Saudi consortium DeTeCon respectively. The state also intends to issue a third mobile licence to fixed line incumbent Ogero Telecom (which will be renamed Liban Telecom). Bahrain’s Batelco has also said it is planning investments in Lebanon as part of a USD4 billion foreign acquisition plan, whilst Zain Group has announced a plan to bid in the auction to remain in the country, although it too has expressed concern over high prices.

   

 

Orascom to join Zain, Batelco in Lebanon mobile auction (Egypt)

  • November 6th, 2007
  • 1:28 pm

Egyptian mobile group Orascom Telecom is considering entering the upcoming auction for one of two state-owned Lebanese mobile network operators, its chairman Naguib Sawiris said yesterday. The Egyptian tycoon dismissed risks of political instability in the country, saying that the main problem would be high prices set by the Lebanese government, which hopes to raise as much as USD7 billion from the sale on 21 February. Sawiris said his group, which has stakes in countries including Iraq, Zimbabwe and Pakistan, was used to political and security risks. ‘This is normal for us…Beirut is like a safe haven,’ he told press. At present, Lebanon’s only two mobile networks – MTC Touch Lebanon and Alfa – are managed under government contracts by Kuwaiti-based Zain Group (formerly MTC Group) and German-Saudi consortium DeTeCon respectively. The state also intends to issue a third mobile licence to fixed line incumbent Ogero Telecom (which will be renamed Liban Telecom). Bahrain’s Batelco has also said it is planning investments in Lebanon as part of a USD4 billion foreign acquisition plan, whilst Zain Group has announced a plan to bid in the auction to remain in the country, although it too has expressed concern over high prices.

   

 

NetOne to ease congestion in capital (Zimbabwe)

  • September 23rd, 2007
  • 2:30 pm

Zimbabwean cellco NetOne is to set up 52 additional base stations, supplied by US vendor Motorola, in Harare to ease network congestion. Some are to be redeployed from the country’s western region following the installation of new state-of-the-art transmitters by Chinese vendor Huawei earlier this year. ‘The Huawei base stations do not co-exist with Motorola base stations. So what we did was to re-deploy the Motorola base stations from our western region to Harare and other areas in our eastern region,’ said Reward Kangai, NetOne’s managing director, adding that network problems in the western region was now a ‘thing of the past’ following the installation of new base stations and a new switch in Bulawayo. NetOne had an estimated 375,000 subscribers at the end of March 2007, around 30% of the market.

   

 

Telecel Zimbabwe wins temporary order to continue operations (Zimbabwe)

  • August 20th, 2007
  • 3:26 pm

Mobile company Telecel Zimbabwe has been awarded temporary relief by the High Court in Harare, Zimbabwe, reports Allafrica.com. The decision means that Telecel, whose licence was revoked by the Postal & Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz) last week, is able to continue operating. The decision is pending further determination by Zimbabwe’s Minister of Transport and Communications. Potraz said that Telecel’s structure was too strongly weighed in favour of foreigners.

   

POTRAZ to referee Telecel ownership spat(Zimbabwe)

  • August 10th, 2007
  • 2:04 pm

Two individual shareholders of Zimbabwe’s smallest cellco Telecel, James Makamba and Jane Mutasa, have paid USD3.5 million to the firm’s majority holding vehicle Telecel International for a disputed 11% stake, reports AllAfrica.com. The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (POTRAZ) had given Telecel International until 30 June to bring its shareholding structure in line with legislation prohibiting foreigners from owning in excess of 50% of any local communications firm, or risk losing its licence. Telecel International owns 60% of Telecel, while the other 40% is in the hands of Empowerment Corporation (EC), a local consortium, itself comprising Kestrel, owned by Mr Makamba (23%), IEG (18%), Indigenous Business Women’s Organisation (headed by Mrs Mutasa, 17%), National Miners’ Association (14%), Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union (14%) and Magamba eChimurenga (14%). EC has the right of refusal over the 11% stake in Telecel. In November last year it was reported that Leo Mugabe, President Robert Mugabe’s nephew, failed in a bid to acquire 11% of Telecel from Telecel International after being refused permission from EC.

   
 

ISPs counting the cost of ‘big brother’ law

  • August 7th, 2007
  • 3:00 pm

The Interception of Communications Act was signed into law by Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe on 3 August, enabling the government to intercept phone calls, e-mails and faxes with the declared aim of protecting national security. Internet service providers are now reportedly facing financial difficulties as a result of the bill, because of the costs of installing monitoring equipment on their platforms. Under the law ISPs have to meet the costs themselves.

   

 

Econet gets the builders in

  • May 6th, 2007
  • 7:21 am

Telegeography writes….Zimbabwe’s largest cellco by subscribers Econet Wireless has signed two contracts with Ericsson of Sweden and ZTE Corporation of China to supply equipment for the expansion of its network capacity from 800,000 users to 1.2 million by the end of 2007. The project will be the second of its type in less than a year, after its USD20 million network expansion to increase capacity from 500,000 to 800,000, which has just been completed. Ericsson, which has supplied the bulk of all equipment on the Econet network since the company launched operations in July 1998, will supply equipment for the expansion of its core network as well as base stations to be set up in the northern part of the country and the capital, Harare. The Swedish vendor will supply switches, Intelligent Network Platforms, pre-paid systems, as well as new base stations in Harare, Mashonaland and Manicaland provinces. ZTE has been awarded the contract to expand the GSM network in the southern part of the country where it will install new base stations and extend coverage to the two Matabeleland provinces, Masvingo and the Midlands. Econet said it had over 634,000 active subscribers at the end of February 2007.

   

Econet ready to roll with 3G

  • April 5th, 2007
  • 3:47 pm

Telegeography writes…Zimbabwe’s largest cellco Econet Wireless is ready to roll out its 3G network following the successful installation of 3G equipment, the company’s CEO Douglas Mboweni said this week. ‘We are now on the testing phase,’ he said in an interview, adding that ‘we need to make sure that before we start rolling out the network, our system is efficient and effective.’ He declined to give a planned launch date. The 3G network was expected to be in place by 31 March, but its rollout was postponed following delays in the procurement and installation of the equipment.