100,000 Telecel sim cards bring relief to mobile phone users

By Lance Guma
26 May 2009

The price of mobile phone sim cards came down this week after the Telecel network reportedly released over 100 000 new sim cards onto the market. The company, now under the Orascom Telecom group, says it is able to offer additional connections after carrying out a network capacity upgrade six weeks ago.

Telecel public relations officer, Monica Malunda, said the new connections will increase their subscriber base to just over 350 000. The company says it began the first phase of its upgrade in Harare and Bulawayo and the second phase will involve expansion to provide travellers with signal coverage on main roads. Coverage will also be expanded to rural areas and they plan to release more lines into the market after this second phase is completed.

Two weeks ago thousands of people queued up to buy sim cards from the biggest mobile phone operator, Econet Wireless, who released about 50 000 additional lines. Prior to this sim cards were being sold for over US$100 on the black market, but the price has since gone down to about US$25.

Econet says it wants to increase its subscriber base from 900 000 to 1,2 million. They are planning a further increase of 500 000 subscribers, saying they secured a US$95 million cash injection from one of their major shareholders.

The price of sim cards in the country has always been high due to the phone companies failing to upgrade their networks. A combination of political upheavals and an economy in collapse militated against them being able to expand. Foreign currency, so crucial to any upgrade, was also in scant supply.

Last week Information, Communication and Technology Minister Nelson Chamisa told us he was not happy with the price of sim cards in the market and that these remained expensive compared to other countries.

Experts say only proper competition will ensure a reduction in prices and tariffs. Several South African mobile phone networks are said to be already eyeing the Zimbabwean market and we are told this is why Econet, Telecel and Net One are trying to increase their subscriber bases rapidly.