Zimbabwe has cheaper data tariffs, claims Potraz

THE Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) yesterday dismissed as false information circulating on social media that Zimbabwe has the most expensive data tariffs in Africa.

In a statement, Portaz director-general Gift Machengete said the information was outdated and inaccurate.

According to a study conducted by cable.co.uk website in 2019, one gigabyte (GB) of mobile data was costing US$75,20.

But Machengete said the 2019 data collected from the Country Reports of the Communication Regulatory Association of Southern Africa (Crasa) revealed that the tariffs for mobile data that were used for comparison purposes in the study were not in sync with charges that obtained in some Southern African Development Community (Sadc) countries.

"The circulated infographic is outdated and inaccurate as it does not reflect the true state of affairs during 2019 as well as what's obtaining now in Zimbabwe and other Sadc countries," he said, adding that the report was flawed and not reflective of the true situation on the ground.

"This report must be dismissed with the contempt it deserves by a nation that is seeking its economic space in the world, through attracting investment," Machengete said.

He said the same organisation in 2020 conducted another study which excluded Zimbabwe due to confusion and problems with currency and exchange rate conversions on the part of the researchers. This could have led to wrong comparisons, resulting in wrong prices for data for Zimbabwe in the 2019 survey, he added.

Machengete said Potraz did its own computations using the official exchange rate in order to compare with results from the 2020 study and the results showed that data tariffs in Zimbabwe were in fact relatively cheaper within the Sadc region and beyond.