Internet service providers in revolt over TelOne rates

Internet service providers in revolt over TelOne rates

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By Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWE'S sole fixed telephone provider TelOne has hiked tariffs by 2 700 percent as it was revealed that internet service providers were planning to bypass it.

Nikki Lear, chief operations officer at MWEB -- Zimbabwe’s largest internet service provider -- said Tuesday: “This week TelOne's tariffs went up by up to 2 700% without any notice period - which means we need to re-cost all our products accordingly.”

Internet services for TelOne subscribers which went down last week were restored this week after the company paid its outstanding Z$700 000 debt to United States based Intelsat.

TelOne spokesperson Phil Chingwaru said they had been bailed out by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).

But Lear said because of problems associated with doing business with TelOne, they were contemplating dumping the parastatal.

He said: “There is however, in true Zimbabwean nature, a plan. We are talking with a licensed provider to fund a new satellite link that will provide MWEB with both inbound and outbound Internet traffic -- reducing our reliance on TelOne substantially.

“The other frustration is that the remaining two Internet Access Providers that are allowed to sell ISPs outbound bandwidth either have nothing to sell or have priced themselves totally out of the market in US$ terms.”

Appearing before a parliamentary committee Monday, RBZ chief Gideon Gono said in 2003 he advised the Ministry of Transport and Communications to ensure that the TelOne landing termination rates for international calls to Zimbabwe be reviewed saying they were the lowest in the world.

Gono added that the termination rates were pegged at US$0,03 per minute against a world average rate of about US$0,20.

Gono said with break-even termination rates, TelOne would be in a sound financial position.

TelOne firm is reeling under a foreign currency crunch and has asked the government to compel diplomatic missions and Internet service providers to pay their monthly subscriptions in foreign currency.

Zimbabwe is in the midst of an economic crisis characterised by four-digit inflation, soaring poverty levels, an unemployment rate hovering at over 70 percent and chronic shortages of fuel and basic goods such as cornmeal.
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