JOHANNESBURG - Up-and-coming telecommunications company, ForgetMeNot Africa (FMNA), which recently partnered with Econet Wireless to enable the latter use the unique FMNA platform, said the deal would increase internet access in Zimbabwe.Last week, FMNA signed an agreement with Econet, the country’s largest telecoms operator, in a move that saw FMNA provide pay-as-you-go two-way mobile email and online chat via standard mobile handsets to more than four million Zimbabweans or one third of the population.
Jeremy George, Chief Operating Officer of ForgetMeNot Africa told The Zimbabwean from United Kingdom: Internet access and utilisation across Africa remains very low in comparison to Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific so the market potential of FMNA’s technology is significant. Mobile phones may be the only way for the vast majority of Africans to ever access the Internet. As the mobile telecoms market in countries with limited internet access continues to grow, FMNA provides people across Africa with low-cost, pay-as-you-go and easy-to-use two-way mobile email and online chat. 19 million Africans can now access two-way mobile email and online chat on their standard mobile phone handsets through the FMNA service.
FMNA is 51 percent-owned by LonZim, a UK-based company that is steering Zimbabwes economic revival. The companys chairman said he was pleased with FMNAs growth.
This is the third deployment of the FMNA unique telcoms solution in eight months following successful launches in Lesotho and Kenya. One year ago, just over one in ten resident Zimbabweans) had accessed the Internet, according to the International Telecommunications Union. FMNA’s deployment in the country means one in three people can now exchange email messages and online chat messages wherever they are, whenever they wish, and with whomever they like without the need for Internet access, expensive Smartphones, device upgrades or application downloads, he said from London.
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