Econet hikes data charges

ECONET Wireless Zimbabwe has placed itself on a collision course with subscribers after it introduced a higher cost regime for social media bundles - making it the most expensive network provider in the country.

The new "fair usage policy" by Econet has placed weekly charges for WhatsApp, Facebook and Opera Mini bundles at 100 percent mark to $2 from $0,95 and monthly bundles at $6 from $3.

The move has been received with shock by the operators' 9.1 million subscribers, who feel the increase is unjustified in the context of softening inflation and the ongoing price reduction in major basic commodities and service charges.

Econet corporate communications manager Rangarirai Mberi said they had noted customers concerns. He said broadband tariffs "haven't changed at all" but admitted; "to maintain high quality of service for all our subscribers, we've implemented a fair usage policy for all our subscription bundles".

The new charges compare negatively with competitors - NetOne and Telecel and the recent Wi-Fi services by landline provider, TelOne and Zesa subsidiary, Powertel.

NetOne bundles are pegged at $0,27 per day, $0,87 per week and $2,80 per month.Telecel on one hand charges $0,29 per day, $0,85 per week and $2,85 per month.

The country's fixed phone operator, TelOne bundles are pegged at $1 for 100MB, $2 for 240MB and $5 for 600MB.

The new cost structure called "Extra", Mberi explained, is standard practice among mobile operators across the world to protect the majority of customers who consume data below the set fair usage policy.

"What we've merely done is introduce a new subscription bundle, called "Extra", for customers who prefer to use higher volumes of data. We've noted customers' concerns, and we welcome their very frank and open feedback as it always helps us improve," he said.

"We had observed that only a minority of customers was using the majority of the network resources. The fair usage policy has been calculated for each bundle, taking into consideration the user behaviour for the different segments of our market, so that there's no impact to our customers."

Mberi said he hoped a majority of subscribers would benefit from the new cost regime saying heavy users have the option of using the "Extra" bundle for data.

Information communication technology expert Robert Ndlovu said while concern over Econet charges was justified, Zimbabwe was generally a high cost country in terms of ICTs.

"Our charges remain high compared to the region. With WhatsApp and Facebook the idea, I think, is to discourage clients from using these because operators are losing revenue in voice and sms. People now do all conversations on social media. That's where revenue streams have gone and operators have to follow," said Ndlovu.

"The problem is that our operators relied heavily on traditional streams of revenue (voice) and they're now reacting to the changing situation."

On concerns over loss of airtime without making a call, Mberi said customers should monitor their applications and control usage.

"This includes unsubscribing from any third-party services they don't wish to continue using, in addition to disabling background apps on their phones. A lot of our phones have apps that update on their own, without being prompted. This consumes your data without you knowing. Our customer care teams are always ready to help you disable any apps or services that you may not want on your phone," added Mberi.

In January this year Potraz ordered mobile network operators to cut their voice tariffs to 15 cents per minute from a maximum of 23 cents per minute after the regulator adopted a new pricing model.The regulator, however, left data charges to be determined by market forces.