JOHANNESBURG Zimbabwes biggest mobile phone service provider, Econet Wireless, late last week lost favour with its customers when it suddenly increased rates for its Call Home service.
Launched last year in partnership with South Africas Cell C, the Econet Call Home is a service by which Econet Customers could call any Econet line in Zimbabwe for R1.99 per minute, using Cell C airtime. However, the company last week shocked its customers, when it raised the fee by R1.40 a minute, in what it said was aimed at preventing abuse of the service by international call operators.
In order to stop abuse of Call Home lines by international call operators, the Call Home rate to Econet Zimbabwe will rise to R3.39 per minute on Friday May 28 2010, said Econet in a message to its customers Friday afternoon. At less than half the price of our closest competitor, Call Home remains the lowest mobile rate to Econet Zimbabwe. The company did not state the new rates for international mobile messages to Zimbabwe, which might have also been raised simultaneously with those of phone calls.
The Call Home service had become a hit with most South Africa-based Zimbabweans due to its erstwhile favourable rates, but the new move might see many Call Home subscribers dump the service for cheaper public landlines, which still charge less than R3 a minute.
Post published in: News