The Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) said that it has given the country’s three mobile network operators (MNOs) free frequencies until the end of 2020.
According to POTRAZ director-general Gift Machengete, this has been done as part of measures to ensure affordable data to consumers to mitigate the effects on the coronavirus pandemic.
Econet, NetOne and Telecel have been granted free spectrum to enable them to increase their capacities to offer data to consumers. Said Machengete:
During the Covid-19, Potraz will be assigning additional 3G (Third Generation Network) and LTE (Long Term Evolution) spectrum for free to cater for additional data demand.
The authority has granted the spectrum up to December 2020 to three mobile operators to enable them to increase the capacity of their data offering.
Meanwhile, MNOs recently hiked charges for most of their services, including data, with Econet increasing data charges by 225 per cent, much to the chagrin of consumers.