Econet Cuts Ineternational Rates by 50%

Econet Wireless Zimbabwe has cut its international call rates by up to 50%, meaning users can phone destinations including the UK and South Africa for as little as USD0.004 per second (USD0.24 per minute). Aiming to boost previously flagging international voice revenues, Econet stressed that mobile calls from Zimbabwe to South Africa are now cheaper than the reverse. Zimbabwe’s three cellcos – Econet, Telecel and NetOne – recently introduced a universal per-second billing system for all mobile calls.



Separately, an Econet spokesperson announced that the South African mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) owned by the Econet Wireless Group (EWG) has sold more than 500,000 SIM cards in the last twelve months to Zimbabweans living in South Africa, piggybacking on Cell C's network under the 'Call Home' banner. The spokesperson predicted that Econet Wireless South Africa’s SIM card sales would exceed one million ‘within a few months’. EWG recently set up a similar MVNO service in the UK targetting people calling African countries.