Staff Writer
Zimbabwe Online Content Creators president Toneo Rutsito says there are a number of factors that can be considered on the cost of data in the country not least of all unstable local currency RTGs as well as erratic electricity supply.
“A comparison of uncapped data between Zimbabwe and South Africa must also consider the fine print under the “Fair Usage Policy” FUP, In SA the MTN sell’s “UNCAPPED” internet but once one reaches a certain threshold the connectivity speed is greatly throttled slowing down connectivity by 80%
“In addition, that connection is backhauled by already trenched Fiber making the cost lower as compared to Zimbabwe base station Wireless connectivity
“Unlike South Africa which is on the sea, Zimbabwe is landlocked country the investment costs of trenching all the way via South Africa adds up to the costs of data.
“RTGs Currency which has been unstable makes it hard to reap from investment.
“The erratic Zesa supply also add huge costs as fuel is most often used to run the disconnected base stations,” Rutsito said.
This came after Post and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) published a statement comparing data tariffs in the SADC region in which it claims the country has the lowest data tariffs in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
In a statement, POTRAZ Director General Gift Machengete said Zimbabwe has the lowest data tariff in the SADC region, with an out of bundle tariff of ZWL14,930 which translates to USD3.21 per Gigabit at the September 2023 official exchange rate while the SADC average is at USD4.60.
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