Econet aims for 100% mobile coverage in Zimbabwe within three years

The Zimbabwean cellular operator Econet Wireless is targeting 100% network coverage in the country by 2015, up from around 74% currently and just 13% three years ago. The firm says the dollarisation of the economy, which saw the local Zimbabwe dollar replaced by the US dollar under a multi-currency system in 2009, and improving political stability have helped create a sound platform for investment in infrastructure. ‘The shift to a multi-currency economy by the minister of finance, and the creation of the national unity government opened up a world of new opportunities for Zimbabwe, and certainly for the ICT sector,’ New Zimbabwe reports Econet chief executive Douglas Mboweni as saying. The executive also said that strong ties with Chinese equipment vendors and financial institutions have helped sustain the growth in the telecoms sector: ‘Most of our equipment now comes from China; the infrastructure that we have built for connecting our major cities comes from China, and our major contractor is Huawei.’