Source: Econet moves to end roaming charges. . . allows customers to roam at local call charges | The Herald July 6, 2017
Econet Wireless Zimbabwe has moved to effectively remove roaming charges through Econet Plus, a new product that allows Econet customers to make calls from anywhere in the world at local call charges.
Econet Plus offers zero roaming charges for all customer categories – both prepaid and postpaid – when they make calls via the Econet Plus App which, customers can download on the Apple App Store or on Google Play Store.
Announcing the launch of the product, Econet Zimbabwe chief marketing officer Mr Navdeep Kapur said he was excited to unveil a product that would make roaming affordable for millions of Zimbabweans.
“I am delighted that our customers can now talk to their families, friends, work colleagues or business partners from wherever their travels take them, at the same call charges as their local calls,” he said.
“They will be able to call any Zimbabwean number, across the networks – on mobile or fixed lines – from anywhere in the world, or to send text messages, at the local price of SMS,” he said.
The product – which customers can use in Zimbabwe or outside Zimbabwe – will come as a great relief to Zimbabwean travellers, who have been paying higher roaming charges when traveling outside the country. Many travellers often temporarily swap their local SIMs for those of their host country networks to save on roaming charges. They would however still pay higher international call charges when calling back home to Zimbabwe.
“All that will now be a thing of the past,” said Mr Kapur, adding that Econet continued to seek innovative ways of creating and offering real value for their millions of customers.
Mr Douglas Mboweni, the CEO of Econet Wireless – the market leader in the ICT sector with over 10,5 million connected customers – last week announced a 50 percent reduction in EcoCash merchant fees in a gesture that will see the company’s more than 6,8 million mobile money customers pay less in merchant fees.
The launch of Econet Plus comes at a time the Southern Africa Development Community has, through its ICT ministers, been pushing for a reduction of roaming tariffs in the economic block as an incentive for interstate trade and regional economic integration.
Econet’s move is in line with ICT Minister Supa Mandiwanzira’s push for affordable regional roaming charges.
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