HARARE - Parliament has unanimously ratified a US$45 million loan agreement that is poised to upgrade Zimbabwe's mobile phone operator, NetOnes technology to 2G and 3G.
The motion got a ringing endorsement across the political divide when it was tabled by Finance minister Tendai Biti in the hung House of Assembly. “It is very critical that Zimbabwe roll out this 3G network. We are lagging behind and I said in my mid term statement that technology-wise, this country is 23 years behind. So it is very critical that we join others by digging the little holes that are being dug everywhere and will increase our capacity to use a 3G and 4G,” said Biti.
Zimbabwe has three mobile phone operators, the largest being Econet, with 4.1 million subscribers, which last week rolled out its broadband service. The privately-owned Telecel, subsidiary of Egypt’s Orascom, has 1.27 million subscribers while the State run NetOne has 1.1 million, giving a total of 6.47 million cell phone users.