AudiencScapes

A lack of cooperation among major industry players is frustrating investors and shortchanging citizens. Their reluctance to share equipment like cell phone towers results in duplication of infrastructure. Tawanda Karombo reports from Harare.

By Tawanda Karombo
Harare – Zimbabwe’s telecommunications companies are being criticized for their reluctance to share infrastructure. As a result, say investment analysts, companies are duplicating infrastructure, such as towers for base stations, and missing the opportunity to channel resources into other areas.

In addition to more than half a dozen companies offering internet services, three mobile companies operate in Zimbabwe: Econet, Telecel and Net*One. The state-controlled Tel*One is still the only company offering fixed landline phone services.

At the recently concluded Imara Capital Zimbabwe Investment Conference, Econet CEO Douglas Mboweni cited competition as the main reason companies are reluctant to share infrastructure resources.
“Some companies are not willing to share their towers for base stations,” said Mboweni. “Towers are still viewed as a competitive advantage by other operators.”

The nation’s telecom regulator, POTRAZ (Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe), is taking steps to force infrastructure sharing, especially in remote areas. POTRAZ is planning to prohibit the number of towers that each operator can erect in a given area.

Investment analysts present at the investment conference told AudienceScapes that the telecom companies’ refusal to share resources is negatively impacting the industry’s growth potential.

“The duplication of infrastructure is reversing the aggressive expansion mood that investors are approaching the telecommunications sector with,” said Taonaziso Chowa, an investment analyst with Old Mutual Zimbabwe’s investment research division.

He said the duplicated infrastructure could be spread to other areas instead of having more base stations and towers in one area. Rural areas, where a majority of Zimbabweans live, are particularly in need of better mobile and broadband service. Rural residents would be among the beneficiaries of infrastructure-sharing among telecom companies.

Shingai Mutasa, CEO of Masawara Investments, also informed delegates at the conference that the company was set to venture into the telecommunications sector through its subsidiary, Telerix Communications. The company holds an Internet Access Provider Class-A License that legally entitles it to construct, operate, develop and maintain public-data internet access and voice over internet protocol (VOIP) in the country.

“We will be setting up base stations within the next two months in and around Harare,” said Mutasa. “We have already acquired the land on which to build our towers for base stations as we already own some service stations across Harare and these will come in hand as strategic positions for the base stations.”

His revelations puts into perspective objections by investment analysts that Zimbabwean companies are duplicating telecommunications infrastructure and that they are unwilling to share towers for base stations. If Telerix Communications could use existing towers it would not be forced to build its own, thus freeing up resources for other uses. The company has said that it will initially target Harare and there are already a host of towers which the existing telecommunications firms have already erected.

Tawanda Karombo
Tawanda Karombo is a freelance journalist living in Zimbabwe. He has had experience with Financial, Business and Communication Reporting. He has previously written for The Financial Gazette (Business and Financial Weekly in Zimbabwe), MoneyWeb (South African Investment and Financial web publication) and The Zimbabwe Gazette (Online news publication about Zimbabwe) among others.