Zimbabwe’s telecoms will continue to invest in making internet access more affordable to Zimbabwean’s, in spite of having already spent US$1 billion in the last five years.
Octavius Kahiya, marketing director at Telecel, told the Broadband Forum, in Harare, on Friday, that the country had a new economy – mobile commerce.
“In Zimbabwe, telecoms invested more than US$1 billion in the last five years alone,” he said. “More investment is coming. We will have 4G. That is investment that is healthy for the economy.”
Speaking under the theme “Broadband – Changing lives, changing businesses and changing economies”, Kahiya said the rapid growth of internet use in Zimbabwe provided real opportunities for economic growth.
Broadband users in Zimbabwe has almost trebled since 2010, and Telecel predicts it will reach 33 per cent by the end of this year.
“It means that the goals set by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for broadband penetration are within reach,” he said.
“The cost of getting connected and staying connected will fall to a few cents within a year.”
The ITU believes broadband access should cost an individual less than 5 per cent of their monthly income, and targets 50 per cent penetration by 2015.
