More GSM Pay Phones for Zimbabwe

Econet's decision to release 10,000 new GSM pay phones into the Zimbabwean market before the end of the year is part of a deliberate strategy by the company to complement the urgent task facing the Group Spokesman Sure Kamhunga said in addition to the thousands of jobs to be created by the new pay phone lines, which each require an operator, Econet estimates that in addition, over 500 new jobs will be created particularly in down-stream industries servicing the telecommunications sector as a result of the new pay phones to be released by the company.

He said Econet, which last week announced its second largest ever expansion program to add another 300,000 lines by October using a US$20 million loan obtained from the Cairo-based African Export-Import Bank, could have easily added another 50,000 cellular lines to the new lines being released into the market but opted instead to divert these to the pay phone sector in which the company is already a dominant player through its YourFone brand.

The planned expansion of the Econet network is one of the single largest investment by a local company so far this year and comes on the back of another multi-billion expansion undertaken by the company to increase network capacity to 500,000 that has already been completed. Under the new expansion announced last week, network capacity would be further expanded to exceed 700,000 and the ultimate strategy is to have at least one million subscribers on the network in the not too distant future.

"The release of pay phone lines is a deliberate strategy by the company to not only widen access to telecommunication services by those unable to own or afford a cellular handset, but also to create jobs as each pay phone needs an operator. This is our own contribution to the urgent task we all face to get our economy back on its feet," Kamhunga said.

Econet already provides 80% of the GSM based pay phones in Zimbabwe which are operated under YourFone, which is the company's community phone service operator with a presence in all the major cities and other centers, providing telephone access to more than 400,000 people monthly. This is expected to increase substantially with the release of additional pay phone lines.

"We expect to create more than 500 jobs in down stream industries such as distribution. Other sectors to benefit include construction and those that sell phones and accessories. This is easily one of the largest investments this year in our hard-pressed Zimbabwean economy," Kamhunga said."

Posted to the site on 17th July 2006