Telecommunication tarrifs increase

Harare (New Ziana) – The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe “POTRAZ”, has approved a 100 percent industry-wide Zimbabwe dollar tariff increase with effect from 1 November 2023.

In a statement, POTRAZ director general, Gift Machengete said this was in response to a 528.14 cost increase in providing telecommunication services in the local currency.

He, however, said service packages that are denominated in United States dollars will not be adjusted as the currency has remained relatively stable.

Machengete added that despite the increase, Zimbabwe still had the cheapest data tariffs in the region.

“We continue to come across posts purporting to draw evidence from a UK [United Kingdom] website, that Zimbabwe has the most expensive data tariff in the world at US$43,75 per gigabyte (GB). We reiterate that this is not only false, but misleading and malicious,” he said.

“As a matter of fact, and contrary to that report, Zimbabwe has the lowest data tariff in the Sadc (Southern African Development Community) region, with an out of bundle tariff of ZWL$14 930, which translates to US$3,21 per GB at the September 2023 official exchange rate, while the Sadc average is US$4,60,” he said.

He said service providers who adjust their US$ denominated service packages will be charging unapproved tariffs and will be liable to a fine.

New Ziana