Econet embarks on network upgrade

26 January 2016

Local telecoms operator Econet Wireless has announced that it will be carrying out an upgrade exercise on its network  in parts of Zimbabwe as part of efforts to improve its quality of service.

The three-day exercise is scheduled to run from the 25th to the 27th of January (Monday to Wednesday) and according to Dougals Mboweni, the CEO of Econet, it may result in some cases of service disruption, though assurances have been made that the operators’ engineers will try to reduce this to a minimum.

Areas that will be subject to this upgrade include parts of Harare’s CBD and selected residential areas, the greater part of Mashonaland East, some parts of Mashonaland Central (areas listed here are Jumbo Mine, Mazowe, Iron Cap, Iron Duke Mine and Blackforby) as well as Fombe, Avilla and Ruwangwe in Manicaland. All these areas may experience intermittent network challenges while the upgrades are carried out.

This latest service upgrade comes after another exercise was carried out less than a week ago in peri-urban and rural areas that included Sadza, Wedza, Nharira and Chivhu. Econet is trying to improve the value proposition for its subscribers that use its network for voice communication, mobile broadband and financial services through the EcoCash mobile money platform.

With the largest subscriber total and widest offering of services, the Econet network has been faced by a need to upgrade its capacity to ensure that it can handle any form of strain or congestion.

- Technology Zimbabwe