Econet moves operations to Google Cloud

Econet Wireless Zimbabwe and its subsidiaries, including EcoCash and Econet InfraCo, have completed a full migration of their operations to Google Cloud in what the company says is the first cloud migration of its scale by a major Zimbabwean business.

The project, which took almost a year to complete, is expected to strengthen network resilience, improve business continuity and accelerate the rollout of new products and services across the Econet Group.

Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Group chief executive officer Douglas Mboweni described the migration as a major milestone in the company's broader digital transformation strategy.

"This is the first major step in a multi-pronged strategy aimed at significantly improving our services for customers," Mboweni said.

"We are excited about our partnership with Google Cloud because of their extensive experience supporting businesses around the world."

Mboweni said customers would begin experiencing the benefits of the migration in the coming months as Econet continues transferring data and fine-tuning the new cloud environment.

The move is expected to give the telecommunications group greater flexibility to scale its digital infrastructure while improving the speed with which it develops and deploys new services.

Beyond its own operations, Econet also plans to leverage the new infrastructure to provide cloud services to other large businesses and organisations in Zimbabwe.

Mboweni said cloud computing was increasingly becoming an important component of digital transformation globally and was not limited to telecommunications companies.

"The advantages offered by the cloud are not limited to mobile operators," he said. "Large companies and governments around the world are moving their digital operations to the cloud."

He said Econet was well positioned to support organisations that may not have the specialist engineering expertise required to establish and operate their own private cloud infrastructure.

"We have the necessary capabilities, including data centres and access to AI (artificial-intelligence) infrastructure," Mboweni said.

The development could position Econet to play a broader role in Zimbabwe's digital economy by providing cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure to corporates and public-sector organisations seeking to modernise their operations.

The migration of Econet, EcoCash and Econet InfraCo also represents a significant shift in the group's technology architecture, as businesses increasingly rely on cloud platforms to improve scalability, resilience and access to advanced digital technologies.

Econet said the project forms part of a wider strategy to enhance its technology capabilities and ultimately deliver improved services to customers across its businesses.