BULAWAYO Many public phone operators in the city have been forced to close down following the recent release of cell phone lines by mobile phone providers.Econet Wireless recently released over 50 000 lines into the market. Most phone shop operators interviewed confirmed that business had reached an all-time low as they were no longer attracting many clients.
Business has drastically gone down because a lot of our clients are no longer using public phones as they have access to cell phones, said Godsave Chimuka.
For the past few years cell phone lines were impossible to get and those that were available were sold on the black market for astronomical prices. At one time a simple second hand line was sold for as much as R1000. The lines are now officially being sold for R100.
Public phone services were first provided by the then-Postal Telecommunication Communication (PTC) which was later re-branded Telone.
Post published in: Manufacturing