Telecel to retrench, downgrade network coverage

TELECEL Zimbabwe has done away with over 250 contract employees, with inside sources saying more contract and permanent employees were set to lose their jobs from the end of this month, as the company has reportedly embarked on massive cost cutting measures.

Sources at the telecommunications company also revealed that the firm was downgrading its network coverage around the country, disconnecting some of its base stations, commonly known as boosters, in yet another bid to cut operation costs.

The 250 employees whose contracts were not renewed about three weeks ago were largely cashiers and foot soldiers for the company's mobile money transfer service telecash.

This comes just over a week after another telecommunications company Econet Wireless slashed employees' salaries by 35 percent across the board, and reduced working hours from 40 hours a week to just 26 hours.

Although officials at Telecel Zimbabwe last week denied reports of looming job cuts, Sunday News is reliably informed that the remaining contract workers were last week told that their contracts would not be renewed after their expiry.

The company, said the sources, was considering doing away with non-core staff in the auditing and marketing department.

"250 contract workers have already been done away with. Those who remained were given notice of dismissal last week informing them that their contracts will not be renewed when they expire at the end of June.

"Most of these are cashiers, telecash foot soldiers and some who were hired to conduct market research surveys.

"Technical staff are not spared as there are some who are employed on a contract basis. They were also told last week that their contracts will not be renewed upon expiry. Some have five-year contracts some three years and so on with varying expiry dates, so people will be leaving in batches.

Permanent staff from non-critical departments such as marketing and auditing are also facing the axe as the company is considering downsizing. These will however, follow after all contract employees have gone," said the highly placed source.

Added the source: "We were told that the company was struggling to deal with the harsh economic conditions and its operations were also affected by the directive by Government to reduce tariffs, something that has affected revenue inflows".

On downgrading of network coverage, which the company spokesperson described as redeployment of resources, the sources said a memo had been sent to the technical department proposing disconnection of some base stations whose operational costs were higher than the revenue they were bringing in.

"The memo also instructed guys in the technical department not to bother themselves with maintenance of unprofitable base stations. If such a base station develops a fault it will not be repaired, while the company is working on modalities to deliberately disconnect some of the base stations they feel are making losses.

"The whole idea is to cut on cost of maintaining infrastructure as well as reduce costs incurred by paying allowances for technicians and support staff who attend to the faults sometimes after normal working hours," the source said.

Telecel public relations, corporate social responsibility and sponsorship manager, Mr Francis Chimhanda confirmed that the company had not renewed contracts of 250 contract workers, but denied that the move was a cost cutting measure.

He also dismissed as false, information that the company was considering embarking on massive job cuts to reduce operation costs.
"The contracts of 250 workers were not terminated because of Telecel's operational costs. These workers were hired for a dedicated project and specific time-frame, and their contracts ended in accordance with their terms and conditions.

"We are always closely looking at our customers and resources to make sure we are correctly staffed and balanced on costs that will best serve our customers in the long run. Having said that however, we do not currently have any plans to retrench staff," he said.

On network downgrading reports, Mr Chimhanda said: "Telecel is continually optimising network coverage in selected areas to improve the overall customer experience, and the redeployment of resources is sometimes carried out to cater for increased usage in other areas of the country.

"This particular redeployment of resources does not constitute downgrading of the network as it is part of a redeployment aimed at moving under-utilised capacity to a higher demand area to ensure all subscribers receive the best coverage at all times".

Last year Telecel also did not renew contracts of another 250 employees.
Telecel survived a scare in May this year after Government cancelled its operating licence for flouting the country's telecommunications law, but was saved by a High Court ruling which granted a provisional order allowing the company to continue operating.