TelOne disputed claims it inflated phone bills

STATE-OWNED telecommunications firm TelOne has disputed claims it inflated Zimbabwe dollar phone bills and converted the amounts to United States dollars hence the current outstanding bills that have accrued on client's accounts.

In a statement TelOne said it has noted sentiments emanating from the market indicating that it had tinkered with clients' accounts.

"At dollarisation (February 2009) all outstanding bills were converted to the US dollar using an exchange rate prescribed by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. This resulted in all businesses and households starting off with zero balances upon transfer," the statement said.

In addition, TelOne said it wrote off the entire January 2009 bill following stakeholder representations.

Further to this, tariffs were reduced from seven cents to five cents per minute in September 2009, but this reduction was backdated to February 2009 when dollarisation commenced. The relevant credits were passed on to each account.

"It should be noted therefore that the current bills did not accrue from the pre-dollarisation era and the conversion to US dollar, but due to failure by clients to honour their bills over an extended period of time," the statement read.

It also urged all clients to honour their outstanding bills.

Asked what rate TelOne used to convert the bills from Zimbabwean dollar to US dollar, an official from TelOne who declined to be identified said: "They were not converted; it started off at zero balance."

Last year TelOne slashed all business and residential accounts, giving a total relief of up to $80 000 000 to customers.