Zimbabwe’s telecoms regulator gave operators permission to raise prices by up to 50% this April to combat rising operating costs.
The Zimbabwe Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz) said operators have been operating at a loss despite using American dollars for mobile money transactions, as Zimbabwe continues to struggle with balancing its currency, reported ITWeb.
Potraz director general Gift Machengete said regulatory intervention for price hikes was necessary to prevent operators from charging what “they wish to charge”.
Liquid Intelligent Technologies revealed shortly after the announcement it will increase prices by 50% immediately and another 50% from April.
The operator said the price rise was long overdue as the operator had been “under desperate and untenable conditions which have resulted in the business costs surging in line with exchange rate fluctuations.”
Econet Zimbabwe said the price rise would soften rising operating costs and inflation, and prior to the hike there was underinvestment broadly across the telecoms sector in the country.
