Technology / Mobile phone
Econet continues to innovate
07 Mar 2013 at 07:20hrs | Views
As it continues on its path to diversify income streams, it was recently reported that Econet Wireless, Zimbabwe's largest telecommunications company, is to extend its footprint into South Africa, with plans to open a new shop in Johannesburg to serve its Zimbabwean clients.
Econet's first shop in South Africa will be in Hillbrow, a densely populated innercity suburb, and is intended to cash in on the success of its call-home facility, which allows Zimbabweans in South Africa to call back home at discounted rates, reports Business Day. Calls home to Zimbabwe are pegged at ZAR 2.25 per minute off-peak and ZAR 2.85 per minute during peak times. An Econet official in Harare on Tuesday said South Africa was a natural choice for expansion, given the "large market" of Zimbabweans living in South Africa that the company would be able to tap into. There are an estimated 2.0m Zimbabwean nationals living in South Africa.
In Zimbabwe, Econet has dominated the telecommunications industry since its formation in 1998 and has 8.0m subscribers. Telecel, its biggest rival, has 2.5m subscribers, while state-owned NetOne has 1.7m users. The company has also recently sealed an agreement to integrate its EcoCash money transfer facility with all of Zimbabwe's banks.
This after some of Zimbabwe's banks, feeling the threat of the potential of the EcoCash service, had lobbied the central bank to announce measures that would compel telephone companies to conduct banking services through them. The move was reportedly slammed by Zimbabwe's deputy Prime Minister Professor Arthur Mutambara, insisting that the government would not stand in the way of business innovation.
The concession made by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe was to announce that all mobile money transfers should operate on a credit push principle where all e-money is backed by pre-funded balances which are held in banking institutions.
No doubt the above sentiments by the authorities led to the banks that were not happy to decide to come on-board, with a senior executive at Econet, Darlington Mandivenga, saying he now expected all banks in Zimbabwe to be integrated by the end of March 2013 with EcoCash, which has 2-million users. The Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe, Stanbic, Agribank and TN Bank have already integrated with EcoCash, which is similar to the hugely successful M-Pesa in Kenya.
Econet is certainly one of the most innovative companies in Zimbabwe, although there remain some concerns that it may spread itself too far beyond the ambit of its core business.
Econet's first shop in South Africa will be in Hillbrow, a densely populated innercity suburb, and is intended to cash in on the success of its call-home facility, which allows Zimbabweans in South Africa to call back home at discounted rates, reports Business Day. Calls home to Zimbabwe are pegged at ZAR 2.25 per minute off-peak and ZAR 2.85 per minute during peak times. An Econet official in Harare on Tuesday said South Africa was a natural choice for expansion, given the "large market" of Zimbabweans living in South Africa that the company would be able to tap into. There are an estimated 2.0m Zimbabwean nationals living in South Africa.
In Zimbabwe, Econet has dominated the telecommunications industry since its formation in 1998 and has 8.0m subscribers. Telecel, its biggest rival, has 2.5m subscribers, while state-owned NetOne has 1.7m users. The company has also recently sealed an agreement to integrate its EcoCash money transfer facility with all of Zimbabwe's banks.
This after some of Zimbabwe's banks, feeling the threat of the potential of the EcoCash service, had lobbied the central bank to announce measures that would compel telephone companies to conduct banking services through them. The move was reportedly slammed by Zimbabwe's deputy Prime Minister Professor Arthur Mutambara, insisting that the government would not stand in the way of business innovation.
The concession made by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe was to announce that all mobile money transfers should operate on a credit push principle where all e-money is backed by pre-funded balances which are held in banking institutions.
No doubt the above sentiments by the authorities led to the banks that were not happy to decide to come on-board, with a senior executive at Econet, Darlington Mandivenga, saying he now expected all banks in Zimbabwe to be integrated by the end of March 2013 with EcoCash, which has 2-million users. The Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe, Stanbic, Agribank and TN Bank have already integrated with EcoCash, which is similar to the hugely successful M-Pesa in Kenya.
Econet is certainly one of the most innovative companies in Zimbabwe, although there remain some concerns that it may spread itself too far beyond the ambit of its core business.
Source - imarastockbrokers
