"In terms of being a contributor, they have contributed to the Universal Services Fund (USF) to the tune of over $43m having been contributed to date since their formation. It would appear that their complaint has been that they are the ones that are consistently and continuously contributing to the USF. Most of the other companies, they allege are not contributing.
It is a matter that we raised with the Minister and he has since indicated that it is an issue that is being sorted out," Chamisa said. "The Econet advised us that power supplies, although they have greatly improved, they continue to have a problem with power. This is why Econet has almost become a power service provider. They are almost competing with ZESA because the number of generators they have are almost able to power in the minimum 10 suburbs because they have huge and mega generators across the whole country. Only if these generators were to be pooled together, they would really enhance the kind of output we would have when it comes to power."
"They were complaining but it is a challenge of power supplies, an issue that they are dealing with. They have also said that they have become again a road builder because roads are very bad particularly in rural areas like Gokwe and Mhondoro. They have had to construct road networks to access the various base stations. They have invested a lot of money into road construction, particularly working with local communities. This has also taken a lot of their revenue to be able to do work that traditionally would be done by other department within Government," he added.
The former Technology minister said they also indicated to them that in some instances, they have had to use helicopters to erect and set up base stations. "Meaning to say that the kind of resources that are required are quite expansive and extensive and this has also militated against the smooth functioning of the company. They have exceeded their roll outs in terms of achievements. They also indicated that they have invested in excess of $1.2bn over the last 6 years."
“They have been a star company according to them. They have done very well. They have created jobs and they have supported downstream businesses in the economy, particularly the air time sellers, vendors on the streets, Ecocash merchants and agents, kiosk operators to more sophisticated suppliers of goods and services within the country," he said.
"To date, Econet indicate that they have a network of 22 000 Ecocash agents and 20 000 merchants who are activated to sell airtime complemented by over 1 500 air time vendors. In terms of Ecocash, they boast that they have transformed the financial landscape in Zimbabwe involving the quickest and most efficient money transfer service to date. I am sure most of the Members of Parliament have benefited from Ecocash because it is a facility that is convenient particularly where you have the unbanked or under-banked in our country where you do not have the network that would ensure that banks on account of viability are there."
He said they are also helping to drive the value of the money platform in Zimbabwe’s informal sector and they value their contribution at an estimated $2bn. "Clients have also received salaries, made different payments of goods without necessarily handling cash. I would say in line with Minister Chinamasa’s request that we go “e”, they have taken the lead by making sure that Ecocash becomes the lifeblood and lifeline for most communities.
Instead of people being in the queue at banks they are now online and they do not need to be in the queue, a big improvement and also a positive development. In addition to those partnerships, they have done some important synergies and networking handshakes with mobile transfer agencies across the whole world; Western Union, MoneyGram and WorldRemit to ensure that money is mobile and money is being transacted without any undue hardship," Chamisa said.
He said they are also powering up Zimbabwe, making sure that they provide safe and affordable power to homes. "Econet is part of the green campaign in which the company is investing in alternative energies, raising environmental awareness by alleviating the crippling impact of worsening power cuts on the service. They have also done things to do with improved security." "Their contribution in education - consistently helping, what they call the Basic Education Support, through what is called the Higherlife Foundation. Over the 12 months of 2015, 23 000 children from primary schools and tertiary schools were assisted with school fees. Since 2010, according to Econet, they have assisted more than 76 000 children through Basic Education Scholarship Programme. By bringing ICTs to various centres in the communities. They have also set up learning hubs through what is called Higherlife Foundation. Their Learning Hub is a dynamic learning environment to promote communication, collaboration and creativity," he said "They set up 28 Learning Hubs in Zimbabwe in more than 3 000 community centres, which is quite an improvement. They have also built synergies with suppliers, but they complain fundamentally that the over the top transaction services are reducing their revenue. Over the top transactions - this is WhatsApp, Skype, those other platforms that are done on the strength of the internet. They are able then to make calls without necessarily bringing revenue for the dialling that is supposed to be done."
"So, they are complaining that those are wreaking havoc. They would want us, as Government, to try and legislate that area. We told them that it is not a helpful or productive arrangement. You need also to compete on those platforms by making sure that services are indeed developed to effectively help our customers and consumers."
Bulawayo 24