Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) has set new tariffs for the telecommunications industry in the new Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) currency.
According to the Chronicle, POTRAZ has set voice tariffs for mobile network operators at ZiG 0.0098 per second with Data now selling at ZiG 0.0928 per megabyte while SMS now costs ZiG 0.1207 per SMS.
The new ZiG tariffs, which were set following a stakeholder engagement meeting convened by POTRAZ in Harare last week, reflect an estimated 80 per cent adjustment in the local tariffs.
The last review of telecommunications tariffs was granted in October 2023 when the exchange rate was ZWL5 600 to US$1.
However, by the end of March 2024, the exchange had shot to around US$1 to ZWL30 000, reflecting an 81.3 per cent depreciation in the local currency.
Industry analysts have said the new tariff adjustments are still too low and should have been increased by 212 per cent to get back to the October 2023 level.
Speaking at the stakeholder engagement meeting last week, POTRAZ director-general, Gift Machengete, said that there was a need to balance affordability for customers and safeguard the long-term viability of the sector.
The sector is grappling with the local currency’s depreciation, legacy debt, limited foreign currency availability, infrastructure vandalism, and constant power outages.
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