Published: Thursday, May 07, 2009
MTN is said to be moving toward acquiring Telecel, a local service provider, in order to capture the remaining African mobile markets. The announcement that MTN is entering Zimbabwe comes less than two months after the company said it was also entering the Angolan mobile market should the Angolan government approve a license.
ICT Minister Hon Nelson Chamisa
Unlike other regional telecom sectors, Zimbabwe's telecom sector has remained stagnant over the past decade due to an unfriendly political situation that had scared away international or regional telecom investors. Currently, Zimbabwe has one of the worst communication networks in the region.
MTN spokesperson Nozipho January-Bardill said the company has always been looking for value-enhancing opportunities and Zimbabwe has presented one.
Zimbabwe has three mobile-phone service providers: Econet, Telecel and NetOne. Telecel is 60 percent owned by Egyptian operator Orascom, which has already hinted that it would like to get out of Zimbabwe and concentrate on North Africa and the Middle East.
"Operating in Zimbabwe is high on our agenda," Bardill said.
Bardill said the Zimbabwean market presents a very good market for investment because mobile penetration is still very low and MTN is accustomed to entering emerging markets against several rivals.
Mobile-phone subscribers in Zimbabwe complain that the country's tariffs are far above regional averages. With the entry of MTN into the country's mobile market, the cost of communication is expected to come down.
Last month, the country's Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (POTRAZ) approved the issuance of 3G licenses, paving the way for investment by international telecom companies offering new-generation services.
POTRAZ is giving telecom service providers a blanket license, allowing them to offer new-generation services and expand their services throughout the country.
Zimbabwe is trying to regain its position of having the second-fastest growing information and communication technology sector in the southern Africa region after South Africa.
The government has been criticized for neglecting the ICT sector and decreasing funding to it.
According to the Global Information Technology report 2008-09, Zimbabwe was ranked last among 132 countries on the network readiness index.
This means that Zimbabwe ranks below all of the 13 Southern Africa Development Community countries.
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