Internet service providers (ISPs) in Zimbabwe are lacking innovation, proving a bottleneck to achieving optimum connectivity in the country, says David Behr, chief executive officer (CEO) and founder of ZOL.
Speaking at the Broadband Forum in Harare, Behr argued ISPs and mobile network operators (MNOs) must develop new offerings to spur broadband uptake and combat the lack of home users in the country.
“ISPs are boring,” he said. “The way we’re selling internet hasn’t changed in the last 10 years.”
Considering the unusual peak usage times for broadband in Zimbabwe – usage exclusively during work hours, peaking at midday – Behr concluded this was an identifier of the fact that there are not enough home users in the country.
“We need to change that,” he said.
In order to stimulate broadband use across the country, however, service providers and operators need to move away from ingrained package and pricing models, Behr argued.
He said operators and providers need to move away from traditional forms of competing, such as only offering per GB pricing, and start offering innovative new packages and broadband offerings in order to attract new customers.
According to Behr, this change will begin to take place over the next year, as ISPs including ZOL start to innovate and think of new ways to induce connectivity in Zimbabwe.
“This time next year, we will see ways of doing things differently,” he predicted.
