ZIMBABWE’S second largest mobile telecoms firm by earnings and subscribers, Telecel, on Monday introduced a video calling service as it revealed national coverage had reached 85 percent.
Video calling allows subscribers to have face-to-face conversations by making use of the camera on compatible mobile phones.
Said Telecel communications and branding director Obert Mandimika: “The introduction of the video calling service is centered on our objective of providing an ever wider range of products and services for different segments of our clientele.
“All that is required to make a video call is a compatible device with the video calling functionality as well as a 3G connection. If the video call fails the subscriber will be given the option of making a voice call.”
Telecel recently announced that its network coverage had increased by 42,5 percent from 50 percent since the economy was dollarized.
The company, which invested over US$50 million into expansion over the past two years, network coverage was 85 percent as of March 31 this year.
“Our current coverage is estimated to be 85 percent of populated areas. In 2009 it was around 50 percent.
“Coverage is an important area of focus for Telecel and we continue to work on increasing it along with the network quality for both voice and data,” said a Telecel spokesperson.
Telecel is however, slightly behind competitors, Econet and NetOne whose coverage is over 90 percent.
International telecommunications company, Orascom Telecom Holdings, injected US$70 million into its Zimbabwean unit, Telecel, in 2012 part of which was used to boost network coverage.
Orascom says the money put into Telecel Zimbabwe was meant to expand and upgrade network and services after the major shareholder was convinced that there was a huge potential for expanding mobile telecommunications services in the country.
Telecel Zimbabwe trails Econet Wireless which has close to nine million active subscribers with NetOne in third place at close to 2,2 million subscribers.Advertisement