ECONET Wireless, the country’s largest telecoms company, said Monday subscriber numbers had reached 8 million and announced a deal to enable customers to acquire smart phones and tablet computers on credit.
Commercial director, George Barbaressos, said demand for Econet lines remains “very, very strong”, crediting the company’s extensive coverage around the country.
“People have realised that we offer the best value in every respect, in terms of value for money, in terms of the best product range, the best coverage and the best customer service” he said.
Barbaressos said network investment remained the key factor in Econet's market dominance noting that “we have spent and continue to spend more money on our network than all our competitors combined.”
He said 2013 was going to be very much about customer service and customer experience.
“It's our main focus. We are going to spend significantly on customer service this year,” he said.
“We are going to expand and improve our network of shops, expand our call centres, and we are going to train our staff to ensure that the core values of our founder drive the company at all levels.”
Meanwhile, Econet customers will soon be able to buy the latest generation smartphones, and tablets such as I-Pads on 24 month instalments following the creation of a special credit facility at TN Bank.
Officials said the plan to finance phones on credit was part of the company's reasons for moving into banking adding the facility would kick-off once Econet completed its acquisition of TN Bank.
"It is just one of several strategies which Econet is planning for the bank, which is now completely being run by Econet executives," Econet said in a statement.
Management said in order to grow its revenues in a maturing voice market, Econet needed to convert more and more of its eight million customers to users of smartphones and tablet computers which can use high-speed data and Internet services.