MOBILE WAR DEEPENS THE Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority has directed Econet Wireless to reverse its 60 percent cut on voice call tariffs introduced to add to a host of other promotions seemingly designed to counter competition. The regulatory authority told the country’s biggest mobile phone operator to revert to the old US25c per minute charge by Friday or face a penalty. Econet has, however, said the directive raises questions on the role of the regulator in ensuring competition in the mobile telecommunications services market. “Given the foregoing, we hereby direct Econet to stop the implementation of the advertised tariffs with immediate effect and no further Buddie Zone advertisements should be flighted in any media issue or released after 4pm on Tuesday the 20th of August 2013,” Potraz said. Last Thursday, Econet announced it was cutting call charges from 25 cents to 10 cents, a 60 percent reduction that the company said included discounts on its Buddie Zone platform. But Potraz yesterday told Econet that it could not reduce call charges by more than 50 percent. Econet Wireless yesterday expressed disappointment with the move and said it will take the necessary steps to protect the interests of its customers and ensure competitiveness is protected in the local market. “The regulator is there to create a level playing field. We are not aware of any similar order being given to other operators who are freely offering similar discounts. Even when other operators violated key conditions of their licence, we did not see any such threats being made. “Now when we take steps to deliver affordable services to our own customers, we are barred. This leaves us wondering just how level our playing field really is,” Econet said. The US10c tariffs had been well received by the public, with usage having risen sharply since the tariff was effected. The move by Potraz would disadvantage millions of Econet customers who were already enjoying the heavily discounted call charges on Econet and to other networks. Econet was also recently ordered to reconnect Telecel Zimbabwe after they cut interconnections arguing the former was not a holder of a valid licence. Telecel’s 15-year licence had expired, but the firm could not renew it after Government directed it to first address its lopsided shareholding tilted in favour of a foreign shareholder. But deductively, Econet’s decision was in response to its biggest local competitor Telecel, which had earlier cut tariffs by 50 percent to attract customers. The threat of instant loss of customers on the domestic market is very real considering that most subscribers are multiple owners of lines from the country’s three networks, namely Econet, Telecel and NetOne and can easily switch operators once they realise that a certain network is offering a cheaper service.- Herald Business
Posted on: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 07:58:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015