This was inevitable. Telecel has just announced that it will be reviewing its SMS, Data and Voice bundle this coming weekend-on the 11th of December to be exact. Any Zimbabwean who has been paying attention could have predicted this. Both NetOne and Econet increased their bundle prices this weekend and it was only a matter of time before Telecel followed suit. Below is a message from Zimbabwe’s smallest mobile network operator.

Annoucnement

To our valued customers
Please be advised that we will be reveiwing our bundle prices on the 11th of December 2021.
A message on Telecel’s social media page

In case you are wondering why this was inevitable you need to understand that Zimbabwe’s mobile network operators compete in other aspects except for the price. There is very little to separate them in terms of price. The prices of their services are also governed by POTRAZ. So when one of the hikes their bundle prices you can bet POTRAZ gave their blessing and they don’t normally give their blessing unless they are approached by all mobile network operators asking for permission to increase their bundle prices.

The increases we are seeing can be attributed to the increase in fuel and other input prices over the past few weeks. With ZESA mercilessly load-shedding every neighbourhood in the country the operators have to pay for fuel so generators can run to keep the services up and running. Then you also have the movement in rates that have been forever on an upward trend and the equation is complete. Most of what mobile network operators do requires foreign currency. This includes services fees to equipment providers as well as money to buy spare parts and expand their networks. So when the rate goes up the bundle prices go right after them.